Dina's Book

I Am Dina
Norwegian Theatrical poster
Directed by	Ole Bornedal
Produced by	Paulo Branco
Written by	Herbjørg Wassmo (novel) Ole Bornedal
Starring	Gérard Depardieu Maria Bonnevie Christopher Eccleston Bjørn Floberg Mads Mikkelsen Hans Matheson Pernilla August Wenche Foss Bjørn Sundquist
Distributed by	Columbia TriStar
Release date	8 March 2002 (Norway)
Running time	125 minutes
Language	English
Budget	NOK 141,000,000

I Am Dina is a 2002 Swedish-Norwegian-Danish film directed by Ole Bornedal. It is based on the 1989 book Dinas bok (Dina's Book) by Herbjørg Wassmo. The movie was one of the most high-profile in Norwegian movie history.

In Northern Norway during the 1860s, a little girl named Dina accidentally causes her mother's death. Overcome with grief, her father refuses to raise her, leaving her in the care of the household servants. Dina grows up wild and unmanageable, with her only friend being the stable boy, Tomas. She summons her mother's ghost and develops a strange fascination with death as well as a passion for living. Family friend Jacob (Gérard Depardieu) encourages Dina's father to hire Jimmy Rustle, a tutor of American English, who introduces her to the cello. When Jacob asks for Dina's hand in marriage, Dina refuses. Her outraged father slaps her, prompting Dina to attack him. Known that Rustle and Dina have grown close, her father retaliates by sending Rustles away, devastating Dina. Unable to come to terms with Rustle's departure, Dina nearly kills Rustle in a fit of insanity.

When Dina (Maria Bonnevie) is old enough, she marries Jacob and moves to Reinsnes, a port he runs with his mother, Karen, and his stepsons Niels and Anders. Niels doesn't like Dina's wild ways, nor the fact that she has taken over accounting duties at Reinsnes. As Dina's eccentric tendencies become even stronger, Jacob suffers gangrene poisoning after breaking his leg when he falls off the roof of his mistress' house while trying to fix a leak. As Jacob does not appear to be getting better and takes a turn for the worse, Dina takes him on sled to the top of a cliff and pushes him off to his death, hoping to end his suffering and send him to a better place. Jacob's death brings Tomas back into her life and the two have a passionate affair. Several months later, she gives birth to a baby boy that she names Benjamin, that she presumably had with Tomas. She then learns of Rustle's death when the latter bequeaths her his cello and his Writer's Reference.

Some years later, as a child, Benjamin accidentally sets fire to the barn. Dina falls in love with a courageous, handsome Russian named Zhukovsky (Christopher Eccleston) who rushes into the burning barn to save her beloved horses. It turns out Zhukovsky had seen Dina several years ago in Bergen and was smitten by her, and has come to Reinsnes to court her. However, he leaves suddenly and Dina forces herself on Tomas.