Product Details

• Actors: Jakob Cedergren, Lene Maria Christensen, Kim Bodnia
• Directors: Henrik Ruben Genz
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Danish
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories
• DVD Release Date: July 13, 2010
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003IM9JWM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,960 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Terribly Happy" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Terribly Happy, the 2010 Danish Academy Awards submission for Best Foreign Film, has been compared to the Coen brothers' noir comedies Blood Simple and Fargo, but it also bears likeness to Roman Polanski's odd, psychological horror films like The Tenant. The deadpan comedy here is so bleak that it will hardly induce laughter, yet plot ironies that pile upon each other throughout make this story uniquely gruesome and uncanny. In Terribly Happy, policeman Robert Hansen (Jakob Cedergren) is relocated, as punishment, from Copenhagen to the small town of Skarrild in a flat, rural Danish county called South Jutland. Delivered to a deserted main street with a warning that major action may occur, Robert is hardly convinced that there will be a single activity to pass time. Slowly, through Robert, viewers meet and greet the quirky community characters, like Dr. Zerleng (Lars Brygmann), a poker-playing, drug-addled physician with access to the town secrets, and Ingerlise Buhl (Lene Maria Christensen), the town beauty who dates a beast, Jørgen (Kim Bodnia). Robert quickly discovers that disappearances in a nearby bog are obviously solvable crimes but are so covered up by the community that he must assimilate, through violence, in order to expose injustice. However, as this violence escalates, a miniature but brutal war between Robert and his antagonists ensues, leaving him ensnared in a swampy situation into which he sinks deeper and deeper. Part of the dry humor in Terribly Happy relies on teasing its podunk, zombielike characters, and part of it is in the crime plot that reaches an absurd plateau as the last bodies are dredged out of sludge. While the film is highly individualistic and the script well written, the pacing feels weighted down in the mud that permeates the setting. Its slow-moving approach to crescendo may be seen as a drag to some, while to others it will mark another success in the film's aim to show how a dreadfully dull setting induces insanity. --Trinie Dalton

Product Description

TERRIBLY HAPPY - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terribly great, June 1, 2010

By 

TheresMoreToLifeThanMist (Hamburg, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terribly Happy (DVD)

This movie definitely deserves to be watched - and to be rated (by those having watched it!)!

It is absolutely funny, sometimes makes you laugh out loud, sometimes simply makes you shake your head delightedly. It is different from any other movie I have seen so far and has been one of my favourite movies of the last 5 years at least. If you need comparisons: The one with the Coen Brothers is probably one of the best. One particular movie that came to my mind while watching "TH" was "Very bad things" - maybe that helps...

Terribly happy has a great story, told in a rather slow tempo, the main characters are very well developed - but whenever you think you know them, there'll be something happening, that makes the whole thing turn into another direction. Very psychological, strange, sometimes irritating, on the other hand beautifully photographed, always surprising, simply lovable and most of all damn funny - that's what "Terribly happy" is!!!

(sorry for my english - this was my first movie review ever...)

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent film noir!, April 6, 2010

By 

John Dziadecki (Louisville, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frygtelig Lykkelig [Region 2] (DVD)

"This story is based on true events." -- I sincerely hope not!

This very dark comedy is very strange and bizzare, in a Coen Bros / Hitchcock sorta way. Set in a rural Danish outback, this police drama-mystery-noir is a top notch production with great story and character development -- in a understated, strange way. Very well directed, produced, acted and photographed.

I don't know how to describe the twists and turns this one has -- it's spot on and off beat. You just *never* know what to expect next. Did I say it's a dark comedy? It is. But perhaps less comic and more dark. And it's no wonder it's won numerous awards -- it's earned them. A first rate film that needs to be on NTSC disk much sooner than later.

"The way people disappear here ... I'd better not say more."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terror in off the beaten track Denmark, September 23, 2011

By 

Mikey "Eurocrime" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terribly Happy (DVD)

Frygtelig Lykkelig (Terribly Happy) is a thoroughly enjoyable Danish film set in the remote South Jutland border town of Skarrild starring some of Denmark's finest acting talent. Fans of the original (Danish) version of The Killing will recognise two of the main players Jakob Cedergren (Phillip Dessau in The Killing 1) who stars as policeman Martin Hansen and Kim Bothnia (Bulow in The Killing 1) who has the role of Jørgen Buhl. Lars Brygmann (Rejseholdet and Forsvar) stars as Dr Zerlang.

Tightly wound policeman Robert Hansen (Cedergren) is transferred from Copenhagen to Skarrild after a mental breakdown and an initially unspecified infraction. In Skarrild the clannish locals dislike by-the-book law enforcement, relying instead on their own unique brand of frontier justice, and outsiders either adapt or disappear. Skarrild's main police business appears to be shoplifting. We meet a femme fatale - oversexed Ingerlise (Lene Marie Christensen), a bully of a drunk, a doctor of dubious ethics and a bog where inconvenient secrets are sent to die.

My favourite part of the film was the drinking showdown between Martin and Jørgen - pretty different to your average twist. The story leaves you guessing at every turn. One question which lingers throughout is whether or not Dr Zerlang will find a fourth member of his card club.

This film is a real treat and kept my interest all the way through to the thrilling conclusion.