Review of Terribly Happy (2008) by Walter M — 14 Feb 2010

In "Terribly Happy," Robert(Jakob Cedergren) is the new marshall. After an incident in his native Copenhagen, he is being given a second chance in a small town. That should be easy enough as whatever crime there is should be easy to handle. An example of this is Ingelise(Lene Maria Cristensen) who claims that her husband Jorgen(Kim Bodnia) is beating her and has the bruises to prove it. He says she is crazy. Regardless, the only thing keeping her in the marriage is their daughter Dorthe(Madeline Maack) who spends her nights pushing around an empty baby carriage. So, it's a good thing they live in such a safe neighborhood.

"Terribly Happy" is a cynical(I mean this as the kindest compliment) movie as it brilliantly and unpredictably plays off the expectations of the viewers with a cold logic, nonetheless. It is especially interested in how the police are more concerned with keeping order than in upholding the law. The movie takes full advantage of the setting of an isolated village and using that to its atmospheric best, where everybody knows everybody else's business and pleasure, and who only see whatever they want to see, living by a clear set of rules, such as how to hang the laundry(There are people who still do this?), occasionally enforced by violence and illegal dumping. So, it's best not to interfere which Robert tries to do by enforcing his own version of the law and so steps in it. It takes a good while for him to get his footing, during which his masculinity gets impugned on a couple of occasions.(A good pair of boots is needed to live in this town.) When he follows the town's suggestion as to how to fight petty crime, he has his greeting returned for the first time and a free bottle of wine given to him.

So, what did happen to the old marshall?