Film Blog of Festen (1998)

‘I don’t think so. Looking at American society, I’m sure that there are a lot of families living on the surface, not thinking of what’s behind the facade. And that’s the topic of the film. There’s also a huge amount of Child abuse in American. At Cannes, many French journalists had to stop their interviews because they were crying. The reason that people say this is very Danish is explained by the rituals which we follow thoroughly in the film. The themes of the film are universal, although it doesn’t sound very humble to say that. ’

In the interview of Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998), Vinterberg mainly mentioned that many families are different in appearance and inside in society. Many families will deliberately show their happiness and harmonious in front of outsiders. But inside the family, there are many unspeakable sadness and corruption. The director concentrate on Child abuse, the oppression of children by a family. This phenomenon is common, and the event in the film Festen is only a typical event, which is dramatized and revealed. The story takes place in the upper class, a class that pays more attention to hierarchy and dignity. The conservative tendency and patriarchal style of northern Europe can be better displayed in the upper class.

The whole family presents absurd "harmony" in the celebration, which can be regarded as the ultimate hypocrisy. With Christian's hand, director Thomas Vinterberg lift the fig leaf of a decent family and revealed the true face of the authoritative father. In the opinion of the director, the family is the only one institution that people can't choose and escape (Porton, 1999). In such a family environment, the primary task of each child is to maintain the glory and dignity of the family. Helena chooses to swallow the sadness after seeing her sister's suicide note and does not publish it to the public. After Michael seeing her sister's black boyfriend, he tries to drive him away in order to "not shame the family". This is tantamount to Fascism in the family, where individual interests are suppressed under collective interests. Christian is the eldest son favored by his father in the family. His character is modest, gentle and decent, which is in line with the image of a regular successor wanted by the big family at that time. His brother is ignorant, cynical and not valued. But no one thought that it was the eldest son who lit the smoke of "war" at home. Because the dead person is his twin sister. In such family oppression, the interaction between peers will be more important and the relationship between peers will be solid. His sister died under the pressure of the sexual assault of the authoritarian father.

In Denmark, one in 10 children will suffer from domestic violence, which seems to have become a part of society and is difficult to change in a short time (Porton, 1999). His father's behavior finally violated Christian's last line of defense, even if his behavior would disgrace the family and disgrace his father's majesty. He can't stand such a hypocritical family, and blames himself for failing to protect his suicidal sister. Then, the role of mother accounts for a small proportion in the film. In the patriarchal family, she is always around her husband. She speaks appropriately and behaves gracefully. However, after her son tells everybody the truth she had already known for many years, she chooses to cover up the facts and claims that Christian is suffering from paranoia. The false accusation against his son reflects that in this kind of family relationship, the oppression of the younger generation has become conventional. In the end, the father's exit will not completely destroy such a family relationship, Wood (1999) argued that even if patriarchy is overthrown immediately, it will still take several generations to gradually eliminate the imperceptible habit of universal rule.

Word count: 544

Reference list:

Kaufmann, M., Hald, B. (Producer), & Vinterberg, T. (Director). (1998). Festen [Motion Picture]. Denmark: Scanbox Danmark.

Porton, R. (1999, March 22). Something rotten in the state of Denmark: an interview with Thomas Vinterberg. Cineaste, 24(2–3), 17.

Wood, R, P. (1999). Humble guests at the celebration: an interview with Thomas Vinterberg and Ulrich Thomsen. CineAction, pp. 47-54.