A propulsively inventive but uneven family comedy-cum-melodrama.
The Celebration(Festen)
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Denmark, Sweden · 1998
Rated R · 1h 45m
Director Thomas Vinterberg
Starring Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A grandiose party to celebrate a patriarch's sixtieth birthday unearths deep-rooted conflict. When Christian, the eldest son, is asked to give a speech, he reveals he has written two: one is the supposed "speech of truth" which contains a horrendous secret known to his father, while the other speech may be harmless.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
Despite the awkward, stomach- churning camera movements and the grainy, flat images that come with insufficient lighting, the actors' work is often riveting and compelling.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
he Celebration rips apart the placid facade of a familiar subject, leaving its audience stunned. As difficult as the film can at times be, the patient viewer will be rewarded.
The New York Times by Janet Maslin
Though it dedicates itself to avoiding directorial egotism, in accordance with strict rules of the Danish filmmakers' collective known as Dogma 95, Thomas Vinterberg's Celebration is still a virtuoso feat.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
Out of the zany strictures of Dogma 95...Danish newcomer Thomas Vinterberg has made a funny, volatile, visually dynamic story about the unraveling of one extended family during the course of a patriarchal 60th-birthday dinner.
Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten
This Danish film is an alternately funny and harrowing look at a family crisis, a meltdown that blends the needs of the truthsayers with the instincts of the let's-bury-our-heads-in-the-sand-and-pretend-none-of-this-is-happening types.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
It's a tribute to The Celebration that the style and the story don't stumble over each other. The script is well planned, the actors are skilled at deploying their emotions, and the long day's journey into night is fraught with wounds that the farcical elements only help to keep open.
Users who liked this film also liked
Danton
Danton and Robespierre fought together as friends during the Revolution, but become bitter enemies once Robespierre takes control.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Poland • 1983
- Director Andrzej Wajda
- Cast Gérard Depardieu, Wojciech Pszoniak, Patrice Chéreau, Angela Winkler, Roland Blanche, Alain Macé
- Genre Drama, History
- Available on Criterion Channel
Love at First Hiccough
(Kærlighed ved første hik)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark • 1999
- Director Tomas Villum Jensen
- Cast Sofie Lassen-Kahlke, Robert Hansen, Karen-Lise Mynster, Karl Bille, Mira Wanting, Sebastian Jessen
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Book of Life
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, United States • 1998
- Director Hal Hartley
- Cast Martin Donovan, PJ Harvey, Dave Simonds, Thomas Jay Ryan, Miho Nikaido, D.J. Mendel
- Genre Comedy, Fantasy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Maelström
A woman falls in love with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Canada • 2000
- Director Denis Villeneuve
- Cast Marie-Josée Croze, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Stephanie Morgenstern, Pierre Lebeau, Kliment Denchev, John Dunn-Hill
- Genre Drama
- Available on Fandor Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Amazon Video, Spamflix, Cineverse, myfilmfriend
Getting Any?
(みんな〜やってるか!)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Japan • 1995
- Director Takeshi Kitano
- Cast Dankan, Moeko Ezawa, Hakuryu, Hideo Higashikokubaru, Akiji Kobayashi, Gadarukanaru Taka
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Garage Olimpo
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, Argentina, France • 1999
- Director Marco Bechis
- Cast Antonella Costa, Carlos Echevarría, Pablo Razuk, Dominique Sanda, Paola Bechis, Adrián Fondari
- Genre Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Love Crime
(Crime d'amour)
A ruthless corporate executive and her ambitious protégé bare their claws in a cutthroat battle for supremacy.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2010
- Director Alain Corneau
- Cast Ludivine Sagnier, Kristin Scott Thomas, Patrick Mille, Guillaume Marquet, Marie Guillard, Gérald Laroche
- Genre Crime, Mystery, Thriller
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Amazon Video, The Roku Channel, Kanopy
The Enchanted Forest
(El bosque animado)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Spain • 1987
- Director José Luis Cuerda
- Cast Alfredo Landa, Alejandra Grepi, Fernando Rey, Tito Valverde, Paco Cambres, Óscar Domínguez
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Crime at Porta Romana
(Delitto a Porta Romana)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1980
- Director Bruno Corbucci
- Cast Tomas Milian, Bombolo, Olimpia Di Nardo, Nerina Montagnani, Leo Gavero, Aldo Ralli
- Genre Comedy, Crime
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Fiancés
(I fidanzati)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1963
- Director Ermanno Olmi
- Cast Anna Canzi, Carlo Cabrini
- Genre Drama
- Available on Criterion Channel
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
(Показательный процесс: История Pussy Riot)
A group of radical-feminist punk rockers protested Putin's reelection in 2011. Now they are victims of a show trial.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Russia, United Kingdom • 2013
- Director Maxim Pozdorovkin
- Cast Mariya Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Andrey Tolokonnikov, Pussy Riot, Petr Verzilov
- Genre Documentary, Music
- Available on Fandor, FlixFling, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Tubi TV, Freevee, Cineverse
Voices Through Time
(Voci nel tempo)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1996
- Director Franco Piavoli
- Cast Patrizio Girardi, Emanuela Cobelli, Laura Carnevali, Alberto Crosato, Mario Piavoli
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Commune
(Kollektivet)
Erik, a lecturer in architecture, inherits his father’s large old house in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen, and his wife Anna, a well-known television newscaster, suggests that they invite their friends to come and live with them.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands • 2016
- Director Thomas Vinterberg
- Cast Ulrich Thomsen, Trine Dyrholm, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Lars Ranthe, Julie Agnete Vang
- Genre Drama, Family
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Redbox, FlixFling, Crackle, Tubi TV, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, DistroTV, Kanopy, Plex
Trenque Lauquen
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Argentina • 2022
- Director Laura Citarella
- Cast Laura Paredes, Ezequiel Pierri, Rafael Spregelburd, Elisa Carricajo, Juliana Muras, Verónica Llinás
- Genre Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, YouTube
Let the Wrong One In
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland • 2021
- Director Conor McMahon
- Cast Karl Rice, Eoin Duffy, Anthony Stewart Head, Hilda Fay, David Pearse, Louise McCann
- Genre Comedy, Horror
- Available on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, AMC+, AMC+ Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, VUDU Free, Freevee, Plex
This film is artistically daring, even if its home video-style filming is not for everyone. Once you get used to the unusual filming style, however, a family's inner secrets unravel through hidden moments caught on candid camera in this classic of Danish dogma cinema. I recommend this film for those interested in and already acquainted with the Danish dogma movement.