The Substitute

When an alien comes from another planet to learn the meaning of love on Earth, it possesses the body of Ulla Harms (Paprika Steen), who is the wife of an owner of a poultry farm in Denmark. Meanwhile, the boy Carl (Jonas Wandschneider) grieves the loss of his mother, who died in a car crash, and is outcast in his school. His father Jesper Osböll (Ulrich Thomsen) wrote a bestseller about the power of love and also grieves the loss of his beloved wife. When the teacher of Carl has a health problem with salmonella, Ulla is assigned as the substitute teacher for his class. Soon Carl and his friends discovers that Ulla is a monster from outer space, but their parents do not trust them and believe the children are fantasizing.

"Vikaren" (a.k.a. "The Substitute") is a great movie for adults and children, with a witty story and great performances. The unknown Danish actress Paprika Steen has an awesome performance with her change of behavior, and her body and facial expressions are fantastic. She really makes this movie work and I regret only the cover of the DVD that misguides the genre to the viewers, indicating that it is a horror movie when it is actually a funny sci-fi adventure. The conclusion is weak and could be better and better. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Note: On 05 January 2021, I saw this film again.

There are no scary scenes in this film and only one pseudo-startling "large marge" reveal. The R rating is only because the kids swear a lot. That's it. Seriously. This film is about as scary as the average Goosebumps episode - only its three times as long and its predominately shot with a blue filter.

I think its obvious that in Denmark (where the film originated) one can not show the amount of violence that films can show in the USA. So the filmmakers attempt to create intensity by implying dread... which it completely fails at. We learn in the first minute where the creature's origin is, so there's never any real intensity. The creature's goals and abilities are poorly defined so we have no idea why scenes are unfolding in the way they are and not according to how they unfolded in previous scenes. Its just a mess.

Its like salsa that's too mild to be considered anything but a letdown.

One of the best surprises I had in early 2008, when one professor brought to the film school where I work one of those "for your consideration" copies for some kind of national academy award. It was "Vikaren", a very funny, original and sometimes scary science-fiction comedy, in which an ugly alien who comes from a planet where love is unknown, assumes the figure of an attractive teacher to replace the one who, in a Danish school, has to prepare 6th grade students for a competition in Paris. If you can, do not miss this version (my favorite sequence is the first day she confronts the class!), since Hollywood has already bought the rights for a 2011 remake loaded with special effects --and although we have to give them the chance to prove they can improve something already good, you will lose watching Paprika Steen doing the real thing in Danish. It is a pity Marco Beltrami's score has not been released on any format, it is very good, and his fans consider it one of his best.

... they're all the same ... well actually this one isn't really quite as the others (as you might have read in the synopsis and/or seen in the movie).The main actress is also the main selling point of this movie. She is really great and it shows that she has fun with her role and the overall story.

The kids and the parents are good too, the story has some neat twists (although most of them are pretty easy to spot), but it never achieves a status of greatness as I would call it. Something is still missing, to make this movie great. It might also be the fact, that once you've seen a few movies, like this one, it doesn't affect you as much. Soild Film then, with which you shouldn't be disappointed ... but expect to get to excited about it either!

This movie is a bet. A bet that is insanely strange. Henrik Prip has written the script together with the director Ole Bornedal, and they must have smoked a huge bean, because this film is insanely strange.

It's always exciting with a bet, respect for it, and the film is not completely lost behind a wagon either, but it does not always fully understand whether it is a horror, or a youth film, so it sits a little awkwardly between two chairs.

It's also insanely strangely shot. I'm not a big fan of that.

However, it is an honorable performance by Paprika Steen who manages to maneuver between all the emotional registers, both when it has to be fake and genuine. But an insanely weird movie.