Family Matters

This film is about 'Family Matters' but nothing is as it seems. The narrative of the film is in many ways quite absurd - and beyond the real. The Danish title translates something like 'What stays in the Family...'- which could make you expect a classic family drama, but this is nothing of the sort, exactly because Bier is fully aware that 'family' is not what it used to be, and love is not about family alone. This is a central and reaccuring theme in Bier's films. Still, we live 'with' the (hopelessly) romantic tales of the ideal family, despite all broken hearts - of the families we live 'in'. And we can try to break out.

To make us feel the real, and seize the day, and understand the potential of following our hearts desires, Bier so often blends absurd narratives and humour into what is otherwise the tristesse of the everyday. Like a combination of Fellini and Kaurismäki. Bordering on the Carnevalesque - but ever so tender at the same time! Still, the style follows or links to a long line of Danish 'folke-komedier'.