The Celebration

The Celebration is a 1998 Danish black comedy-drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and produced by Nimbus Film. The film tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday, juggling subjects of abuse, death, incest, suicide, and trauma. Vinterberg was inspired to write it with Mogens Rukov, based on a hoax broadcast by a Danish radio station.It was the first Dogme 95 film, an artistic movement created by Danish directors Vinterberg and Lars von Trier. The movement preferred simple and analog production values to allow for the highlighting of plot and performance. Festen was selected as the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. In addition, it won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1998. Plot Helge, a respected businessman and family patriarch, is celebrating his 60th birthday at the family-run hotel. Gathered together amongst a large party of family and friends are his wife Else, his sullen eldest son Christian, his boorish younger son Michael, and his well-traveled daughter Helene. Another sibling, Linda, has recently taken her life at the hotel. Helene finds Linda's suicide note, but hides it in a medicine bottle after becoming upset by the undisclosed contents. Michael fights with his wife, whom he had earlier abandoned on the roadside with their three children, and then has sex with her. He later beats Michelle, a waitress of the hotel, after she pulls him aside to discuss that he had impregnated her in an affair. At Helge's birthday dinner, Christian makes a toast to his father. During the toast, he publicly accuses by making a joke over Helge of sexually abusing both him and his twin sister Linda as children. After an initial shocked silence, the party goes on as usual as guests decide to move past the moment in denial. Helge pulls Christian aside to engage in a baffled conversation about his accusations. He questions his motivations for slandering him, and Christian appears to recant his accusation. However, Christian is spurred to further action by hotel chef Kim, a childhood friend who knows about the abuse. Christian then continues his toast by accusing Helge of causing Linda's death through the trauma caused from the abuse.