Copenhagen 1919: A young worker finds herself unemployed and pregnant. She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency. Their bond grows stronger, but her world is shattered when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. Denmark’s official submission for Best International Feature Film. 2025 Nominated for the 97th Academy Awards. It’s the final days of the Great War, and Caroline is barely surviving working in a factory. She believes she’s a widow because her husband disappeared during the war (although Denmark didn’t actually participate), but she doesn’t receive widow’s benefits because he wasn’t listed as a dead person. A lot happens during the film. And I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I won’t go into the plot, except to highlight something that isn’t as important a part of the film as one might expect. While the second half of the film gets a lot of attention, for me the real value of the film is the sense of reality that comes with Caroline’s story. When was the last time someone in a film tried to convince a potential tenant to take over an apartment by telling them they could have running water for two full hours a day (from ten to noon, which may be a small point since most people would be working during those hours)? When was the last time rampant drug use was portrayed so honestly? Even what Dagmar does was pretty common back then, although I can guess that trend is now on the wane and it’s not like it used to be. I actually enjoyed the film more if the marketing had been different and Dagmar wasn’t brought up in a way that created expectations. Although Dagmar is the main character, the film is clearly about Caroline and her struggles. On the other hand, it’s hard to say how I would have felt seeing the name Dagmar Overby on the door if I hadn’t known beforehand that this real-life person was being used in the film. (It should be noted that the film is inspired by real-life events, not based on them, so they try to keep some distance from the real Dagmar). , because sometimes it seems like she makes the right decision a little too late. At the same time, there’s not much time or opportunity for ethics when you’re just trying to survive in a world where the odds are stacked against you. On the other hand, even though we know that the hope she’s given would be futile in this world, we still understand why she gives in to it. I love the look of the film. It’s black and white, and the entire city looks abandoned and barely holding on. It reminds us of the lack of interest in, or even contempt for, the well-being of the working poor. Has things really changed that much? The time depicted took place over a century ago, but the concept of female bodily autonomy is once again under constant attack. Of course, all art is in some sense a mirror of the time in which it was created, but it seems easier to see the similarities here.
