Den Store Stilhed (2023) | REVIEW

International Title: The Great Silence — Directed by Katrine Brocks — Screenplay by Katrine Brocks and Marianne Lentz.

Katrine Brocks’ The Great Silence follows Alma (played by Kristine Kujath Thorp), a Norwegian nun in a Catholic convent in Denmark. Alma is preparing for her perpetual vows — her marriage to God, as some characters put it — when her Danish half-brother Erik (played by Elliott Crosset Hove), a recovering alcoholic, stops by to ask for his half of the inheritance that their father left her. However, Alma, formerly named Silje, has already donated the entire inheritance to the convent so that they can repair their leaky ceiling. Hoping that Alma can also repair her relationship with her brother, the Mother Superior bends the rules and invites Erik to stay for a few days. Having him back in her life brings back traumatic memories that she may now finally have to confront.

With her directorial feature debut, Katrine Brocks lept into a well-trod genre within which it is easy to rely on genre tropes and cliches. Brocks’ debut is a film about religion, and there are many other films like it. The question remains whether or not what Brocks, with co-writer Marianne Lentz, has come up with is worth watching. I believe it is. Layered with symbolism and smart lines of dialogue, I was immediately impressed by the waterproof assuredness of the writing. Some of the symbolism — the leaky ceiling, the light, the earmuffs — is maybe a tad too obvious, and perhaps the film’s secrets aren’t that surprising, but there are very few, if any, false moves here. The film is ultimately most concerned with the internal life of Alma, her headspace, and what it, to her, means to forgive and be forgiven. These themes land really well and feel interwoven with the essential character relationships in the film.

One of the major reasons why this film is not just a solid debut but also genuinely fascinating is that the lead performances at times feel quite authentic. Norwegian actress Kristine Kujath Thorp plays the principal part as Alma, and, admittedly, she is asked to do quite a bit of cliché things, but she imbues her performances with the kind of subliminal cracks that makes her interesting to watch. She has this really effective speech towards the end of the film which she absolutely nails, and with which the film succeeds in communicating some of its primary themes. Elliott Crosset Hove is one of the most fascinating talents in Danish cinema right about now. I am constantly impressed by the raw nerve of authenticity that I think he can establish in his characters. Hove is quite good here, though I must say that there was one moment in which his substance abuse didn’t feel quite as real as I expected it to. The eyes weren’t fully there.

As I have mentioned, the film does sometimes fall for a couple of irresistible but familiar clichés, though it didn’t bother me too much. This is perhaps due to the fact that the flm is also filled with these grace notes in which the filmmaker has injected the film’s religious community with a charming modernity — like when the nuns goof around with PlayStation Move controllers. That said, I do think more could be done with the moments in which the film flirts with horror and thriller elements. These moments are tastefully done, but it felt like there was some unrealized potential there. I’ll also add that the film’s ending is maybe a tad too long. It certainly felt to me like they wanted to tie up a dangling relationship satisfyingly but also end quickly on a note that doesn’t fully agree with the way that dynamic is tied up. So, I do have mixed feelings about the ending, but, on the whole, this is a promising and assured debut from Katrine Brocks. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

7 out of 10

– Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.