Dancers

Annika, a not-so-young but striking dance instructor, has always worked at the dance studio founded by her grandfather and maintained by her widowed mother. The rhythmic routine of the waltz has characterized her life until a power outage at the studio introduces her to hulking electrician Lasse. When Annika asks Lasse to moonlight in her apartment, she unabashedly makes known her affections for the brooding repairman. Though Lasse is resistant-he just got out of jail, he says, for fraud-Annika persists, and the unlikely match begin a passionate affair, which brings her mother to ask “How does one love someone like that?” Yet, something still seems to be holding Lasse back, and Annika soon learns that there may be more to Lasse's past than she is fully aware. Ultimately, with a disapproving mother and a recently floundering career, Annika must contemplate the power of guilt and her ability to forgive in the face of love. Astute acting and a devastatingly sincere narrative make for a powerful sophomore effort by Pernille Fischer Christensen in DANCERS. (In Danish with English subtitles) – E.J.B.