Lucas is slowly getting his life together after a messy divorce with a traumatic custody battle, and also losing his teaching job as a result of the recession. Now in this small Danish country town he is working helping out at a kindergarten in the day and hanging out having fun with his male friends at night. It’s not a perfect situation with him alone in the big house that he once shared with his family, but he has just heard that his son wants to come live with him so things are definitely on the up.

That all changes suddenly one day when in a fit of pique a 5 year old girl called Klara blurts out to Grethe the Kindergarten’s owner that Lucas had exposed himself to her. A flummoxed Grethe calls in a child psychologist to see if there is any truth in the accusation, and in his overly-cautious way of desperately trying not to upset the child anymore, inadvertently puts words in her mouth and so draws the wrong conclusion.  Lucas is told to take a few days off whilst the matter gets sorted out, and Klara’s parents …… who happen to be Lucas’s best friends …. are called in and told of the accusation.

From there the situation snowballs out of control as Grethe gives all the other worried parents a vague list of ‘symptoms’ to watch out for and then they all become convinced that Lucas has molested their children too.  And then when young Karla attempts to recant her story and tell the truth, this is rejected and explained away by the ‘experts’ as actually the severity of the abuse that has been inflicted upon her. When the local Magistrate refuses to charge Lucas due to an overwhelming lack of evidence, almost the entire community are outraged as they are totally convinced that a pedophile is loose in their midst now. 

As we know that the whole thing is a lie from the outset, it’s harrowing to watch Lucas falsely treated like a criminal by the very community that he was once such an integral part of it.  They take out their anger on him both physically and verbally inflicting their own concept of justice on a man they unanimously feel should be punished.

Fast forward to when the truth finally is allowed to come out, and when the whole town accepts that it was all one huge mistake, Lucas and them kiss and make up, and life gets back to exactly where it was again for them all.  Or does it … wait for the most unexpected finale before you decide .

Directed and co-written by Thomas Vinterberg (‘The Celebration’) it has a remarkable centered performance from acclaimed Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen with his weather-beaten sad face. Its a break from seeing him from playing a villain as he is usually typecast …. he was Le Chiffre in ‘Casino Royale’ and is currently playing Hannibal Lecter on NBC TV. He subtly portrays the persecuted Lucas with an intense quiet dignity despite all the hatred that is heaped upon him, until he finally lets his inner rage surface.  It’s powerful stuff that it makes you want to root for him even more as the plot thickens.  Mr Mikkelsen was deservedly given the Best Actor Award at Cannes Film Festival for this.

Credit too for an astonishingly realistic performance from young Annika Wedderkopp as Klara, and also to Thomas Bo Larsen (‘The Celebration’) as Theo who was so torn between his loyalties as Klara’s father and Lucas’s best friend.

A harrowing take on a very difficult subject where people are so desperate to over-protect young children that they inadvertently see what they want to see and are totally blind to the truth.  It will make you both angry and sad. Trust me.

Out now on VOD & DVD.

★★★★★★★★