Storyline

A young minister, a widower, is temporarily assigned to a church whose suspended pastor drove parishioners away; he stays at a hotel where he meets Jørgen, who's alone approaching middle age. Jørgen's friend Finn, a temperamental restaurant manager, may be about to be fired. Finn's assistant is Giulia, a lovely young Italian who prays for a husband. Olympia, a clumsy bakery clerk, has an ornery father; Karen, a hairdresser, has a mother who is very ill. The paths of these six characters cross at church, in the restaurant, at the hotel, and at an Italian class at the local adult school. Loneliness, grief, solace, romance, and love may meet 'nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.'

Plot Keywords

church, stadium, schizophrenia, funeral, hospital, merry christmas, sister sister relationship, christmas, ambulance, impotence, morphine, hotel, restaurant, bakery, hairdresser, bechdel test passed, title directed by female, language learning, classroom, nurse

Short Review

Without abandoning the illusion of realism, Scherfig and her wonderful cast slyly transmute the quotidian into the magical. It's like watching flowers bloom in a concrete garden.

Trailer