In a Better World | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Susanne Bier |
Produced by | Sisse Graum Jørgensen |
Written by | Susanne Bier Anders Thomas Jensen |
Starring |
Mikael Persbrandt Trine Dyrholm Ulrich Thomsen |
Music by | Johan Söderqvist |
Cinematography | Morten Søborg |
Edited by | Pernille Bech Christensen Morten Egholm |
Production
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Distributed by | Sony Pictures Classics |
Release date
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Running time
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118 minutes |
Country | Denmark Sweden |
Language | Danish Swedish English Arabic Catalan Spanish |
Budget | DKK30 million (US$5.5 million) |
Box office | US$9,629,826 |
In a Better World (Danish: Hævnen, "the revenge") is a 2010 Danish drama thriller film written by Anders Thomas Jensen and directed by Susanne Bier. The film stars Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, and Ulrich Thomsen in a story which takes place in small-town Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa.
A Danish majority production with co-producers in Sweden, In a Better World won the 2011 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards.
Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) is a Swedish doctor who commutes between his home in Denmark and his work in a Sudanese refugee camp. In Sudan, he often treats female patients who are the victims of a sadistic warlord. Anton is married to Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), but they are separated, and struggling with the possibility of divorce over an affair that Anton had with another woman. They have two young sons, the older one being 12-year-old Elias (Markus Rygaard).
Christian (William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen), who has just moved from London with his father, Claus (Ulrich Thomsen), is a new boy at Elias' school. Christian's mother recently died from cancer, and Christian blames his father for lying to him that she would get well, and that, in a late stage of her disease, he "wanted" her to die. Elias is bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, who assaults the main bully and threatens him with a knife. Christian gives Elias the knife, and both boys lie to the police, and their parents, about the incident.