The Bench
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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 29mNR 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

Jesper Christensen

Kaj

Lead
Nicolaj Kopernikus

Nicolaj Kopernikus

Stig

Jens Albinus

Jens Albinus

Kim

Sarah Boberg

Sarah Boberg

Connie

Lars Brygmann

Lars Brygmann

Lars

John Martinus

John Martinus

Toilet Attendant

Petrine Agger

Petrine Agger

Nurse

Anette Støvelbæk

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.
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
4.0
Every frame feels alive. The Bench is the rare release that takes its audience seriously.
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker