Back to browse
71% Critic Match
The Bench
“He has a life, he isn't proud of, and a past that he doesn't want to remember.”
7.1 / 10• 2000• 1h 29m•NR• Danish
Drama
Storyline
Kaj is a stubborn man with a great deal of pride. The former chef lives in a council flat. He has wasted his life and is now on a council job training scheme for the long-term unemployed, where he refuses to let the foreman of the activation project boss him about. When Kaj's daughter, with whom he has not been in touch for nineteen years, moves into the same council estate on the run from her violent husband, a change comes over Kaj. His initial instinct is to avoid her, but by chance he ends up helping to look after Jonas, her six-year-old son. For the first time for years Kaj need not survive on his own devices. Now he has responsibilities and a family of his own.
Cast & Crew
Jesper Christensen
Kaj
Lead
Nicolaj Kopernikus
Stig
Jens Albinus
Kim
Sarah Boberg
Connie
Lars Brygmann
Lars
John Martinus
Toilet Attendant
Petrine Agger
Nurse
Anette Støvelbæk
Kim's Neighbor
What People Are Saying
4.0
“A staggering achievement of craft and ambition. Per Fly's vision lands with breathtaking precision.”
4.0
“Every frame feels alive. The Bench is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.”
