Open Hearts is, officially, the 28th film to be certified as meeting the stringent requirements of the Dogme aesthetic.  Who would have thought the oft and easily maligned method of storytelling would have lasted this long, getting less and less attention while steadily improving in quality?  At least that's the way it looks from my perch, though one should keep in mind I live in a country that has seen less than 10 of the Dogme-certified films released.

Likely to draw comparisons to Dogme co-founder Lars Von Trier's Breaking the Waves, Hearts is set in Copenhagen and focuses on the aftermath of an automobile accident that occurs fairly early in the film.  First, after hearing what sounds like some very un-Dogme-like music, we're introduced to Joachim (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and Cecille (Sonja Richter), a young, recently engaged couple who appear to be very happy and very much in love.  Joachim likes to climb mountains, which makes Cecille nervous, but what she should be worried about are the normal, day-to-day things, like simply walking down the street.

That's just what Cecille sees Joachim do one day as she drops him off for work...right before he gets creamed by an oncoming car (producing some very un-Dogme-like blood).  Joachim's neck and back are broken, rendering him a quadriplegic.  Because he'll never be able to perform sexually again, Joachim tells Cecille to move on with her life, and then proceeds to shut her and everyone else out.  Cecille, meanwhile, has no one to turn to but Joachim's doctor, Niels (Mads Mikkelsen), whose wife just happens to be the driver of the car that hit Niels.  This confirms my theory about Copenhagen, which postulates a population of 7.

As Cecille and Niels grow closer and closer, leading to late-night calls and rendezvous, Hearts disintegrates into a depressing tale of mixed feelings and awfully lousy timing.  It's hard to say whether Niels' wife Marie (four-time Dogme vet Paprika Steen) is oblivious to the affair, or whether she feels guilty for creating the situation in the first place. After all, is it cool to yell at your husband for spending an exorbitant amount of time with the heartbroken woman whose fiancé you nearly killed? Sounds like a question for Miss Manners, if you ask me.  Their daughter Stine (Stine Bjerregaard) seems a whole lot wiser to the situation than her mom does, but then again, Stine may be dealing with guilt issues of her own.

Hearts, which was co-written by director Susanne Bier with Anders Thomas Jensen (The King is Alive, Mifune), is a very painful film to watch, especially if you've ever been dicked around by fate's fickle finger (and who hasn't, really?).  Like the other Dogme entries – more so, even – Hearts elicits strong performances from its entire cast, which makes the film so much more realistic and gut-wrenching.  Don't see it if you're feeling suicidal, because it might push you right over the edge.

1:53 -

for language and sexuality