Open Hearts

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Open Hearts

R,

2003,

1h 53m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

93%

57 Reviews

Tomatometer

90%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

57 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Cecilie (Sonja Richter) and Joachim (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) are engaged to be married, when tragedy strikes: Joachim is the victim of a car crash that robs him of the use of his legs. While at the hospital tending to Joachim, Cecilie meets Niels (Mads Mikkelsen), a doctor working there. As she leans on him for moral support, she discovers that his wife was responsible for Joachim's accident. The revelation doesn't stop their affair, which throws both their lives into upheaval.

Critics Consensus

Pulsing with honesty, this film lays bare the rawness of human emotion with a story made all the more believable thanks to its gritty, low-budget approach.

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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Apr 27, 2003

B+

A small-scale domestic drama with large-scale feeling.

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Alexander Walker

London Evening Standard

Apr 5, 2003

Susanne Bier's film is a pretty ordinary chapter of everyday sin and, it has to be admitted, pretty misery-making.

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Jay Boyar

Orlando Sentinel

Apr 4, 2003

4/5

Open Hearts is far from inaccessible, but it demands a higher level of concentration than most big-budget movies do. The drama exists in a glance or a nod, or in a slight hesitation in speech.

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

Feb 16, 2021

Open Hearts lacks spontaneity ... because it is not essentially taken from life, but constructed in order to prove the filmmaker's superficial premise, that human circumstances and the human heart are beyond comprehension.

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Mark Halverson

Sacramento News & Review

Aug 7, 2008

4/5

Jason Gorber

Film Scouts

Jun 21, 2007

A-

Absent of nihilism, this nonetheless is a love triangle film with all the darkness and pain and love and longing that goes into these complex, adult relationships.

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Susanne Bier

Director

Sonja Richter

Cecilie

Nikolaj Lie Kaas

Joachim

Mads Mikkelsen

Niels

Paprika Steen

Marie

Stine Bjerregaard

Stine

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Synopsis

Cecilie (Sonja Richter) and Joachim (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) are engaged to be married, when tragedy strikes: Joachim is the victim of a car crash that robs him of the use of his legs. While at the hospital tending to Joachim, Cecilie meets Niels (Mads Mikkelsen), a doctor working there. As she leans on him for moral support, she discovers that his wife was responsible for Joachim's accident. The revelation doesn't stop their affair, which throws both their lives into upheaval.

Director: Susanne Bier
Producer: Vibeke Windeløv, Jonas Frederiksen
Screenwriter: Susanne Bier, Anders Thomas Jensen
Distributor: Newmarket Film Group
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainment
Rating: R (Sexuality|Language)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Danish
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 26, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $122.3K
Runtime: 1h 53m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Dolby SR, Dolby A, Surround
Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)

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