ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS

Synopsis

A relationship comedy about the rhythms of life ans love among a group of working.class thirty-somethings in a Copenhagen suburb.

ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS is a cheerful story about five insecure, single and vulnerable people who are subjected to a series of coincidences one winter in the suburb of Hvidovre where they have signed up for a night-school course in Italian.

Andreas, who is sorrow-stricken, takes up his first practically impossible post as a substitute minister. At the same time Olympia, a saleslady, decides to spite her domineering father and do something she has never done before. The oddly introverted hair dresser Karen discovers her mother's darkest secret. The angry and aggressive Halvfinn struggles to deal with finding love and his best friend, Jørgen Mortensen, tries to help in any way he can without burdening the others with his problems.

As time goes by Andreas, Olympia, Karen, Halvfinn and Jørgen Mortensen get a chance to change their lives in an unexpected, yet happy way.

Biography

Born in 1959 in Copenhagen, Lone Scherfig graduated in film directing from the Danish Film School in 1984. She had previously studied film at Sorbonne in Paris (1976-77) and at the Institute of Film and Media Science, Copenhagen University (1977-80).

Filmography
1991 THE BIRTHDAY TRIP
1998 ON OUR OWN