Films: Blinded by Beauty

Jul 21 2009 Surrey Herald

This explosive Danish thriller will have you on the edge of your seat, writes Pierce Hunt.

FIRST of all, ignore the film's title. The unfolding story in director Ole Bornedal's flirtation with film noir is anything but romantic and has an unnerving atmosphere, which jumps from the mundane realism of leading man Jonas's daily routine to downright disturbing scenes of gore and heartache.

Jonas (Anders W Berthelsen) is a disgruntled crime scene photographer - a far cry from his dream job of snapping the wonders of nature from low-flying helicopters for National Geographic.

He leads an otherwise normal life in the suburbs with his loving wife Mette (Charlotte Fich) and their two children. Life is merely to exist and is growing increasingly bland for Jonas.

This rapidly changes when he inadvertently causes a woman to crash her car. Racked with guilt, Jonas rushes to help the clearly shaken young woman, Julia (Rebecka Hemse). The crash becomes a catalyst for Jonas to detach himself from his existence and slip into another chilling way of life.

After checking on Julia at the hospital, Jonas is confronted with her devastated family who mistakenly think he is Julia's boyfriend, Sebastian. After Jonas finds out she is 90 per cent blind and has little to no memory, he deceives everyone by going along with the family's suggestion that he is in fact, her new boyfriend they have been expecting from abroad.

The bizarre nature of his decision is the main focus of discussion with his work colleagues who are quick to offer advice, which more often than not ends with them telling him he's lost the plot.

Gradually, Jonas drifts from the family unit and spends more and more time with Julia, helping her along with her recovery, but things soon take a turn for the worse. Frank (Dejan Cukic), a colleague of Jonas, intercepts the absent Sebastian's death certificate from south-east Asia - where Julia had met her beau while travelling - but odd things begin to occur, which suggests that maybe Sebastian is still on the scene and has some unfinished business of his own.

Jonas effectively gives up his family for a pretty face. But when that pretty face begins to piece everything back together with some harrowing flashbacks, she is increasingly suspicious of her supposed boyfriend. And Jonas realises he is seriously out of his depth when a number of disturbing situations crop up.

Just Another Love Story is nothing like its title suggests. It's dark, twisted and follows the mistakes of one man when he believes the grass is greener on the other side.