Before The Frost
- Feature
- 2018
- 90 Minutes
- Denmark
- Language: Swedish and Danish
A poverty-stricken farmer in 19th-century Denmark strives to give his daughter a better life by marrying her off to a wealthy landowner. But his intentions are undermined by cruel fate.
Director: Michael Noer
Screenwriter: Jesper Fink, Michael Noer
Production Company: Nordisk Film Production
Premier Status: Regional premiere
Film Critic
The winter which never came
Antonia Shreka
For years, Jenshas been fighting to survive on a harsh, unyielding piece of land. The family’s decline in fortune is deeply felt and underscored by the local burghers. Jens is targeted by Gustav, a wealthy Swede looking to expand his holdings. With winter coming, Jens must choose between marrying off his beloved daughter or losing his family’s only means of survival, his land. He forsakes his own moral and the most precious he owns and does the unbearable. The movie has a lasting humanistic and universal message that greed can deprive man of his most precious asset: family and loved ones. On the doomsday when Jens decides to marry off
his daughter to an unrighteous man to salvage his family from humiliation, he signs up for human devaluation which will take his beloved family as victims. The film depicts horrible selfishness
of human beings and proves sacrificing a loved one’s happiness for money can only lead to misery. “Before the Frost” is a 2018 Danish drama film and was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
What is behind beneath
Homa Tavasoli
As winter approaches in rural 1850s Denmark, an old farmer and his family face starvation. The harsh circumstances and with the prospect of yet another tough winter, Jens must make an unbearable choice. If the family is to survive he must settle an agreement with the wealthy farmer at the nearby farm and forsake his own moral and the most precious he owns, in an effort to secure them all a better life.Jens agrees to ally with the neighbor in a marriage between his daughter and their son. The film depicts horrible selfishness of human beings and proves sacrificing a loved one’s happiness for money can only lead to misery. “Before the Frost” is a 2018 Danish drama film and was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto
Photos
Awards
2018: Tokyo International Film Festival, Best Actor Award and Special Jury Prize (winner), Best Film (Nominated), Japan2018: Chicago International Film Festival, Best Actor (winner), Best Feature (Nominated), USA
Cast and Crew
Screenwriter: Jesper Fink, Michael Noer
Producer: Matilda Appelin, René Ezra, Tomas Radoor
DOP / Camera: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
Editor: Adam Nielsen
Music: Tanja Grunwald
Sound: Morten Green, Nino Jacobsen, Kasper Janus Rasmussen
Production Designer: Søren Schwartzberg
Cast: Jesper Christensen, Clara Rosager, Ghita Nørby, Elliott Crosset Hove
Director
Michael Noer
Born in 1978, Denmark. Graduated from the National Film School of Denmark, 2003. Award-winning director Michael Noer’s first feature film R (2010), co-directed by Tobias Lindholm, and the documentaries Vesterbro (2007) and The Wild Hearts (2008) has marked him as one of the most talented directors of his time.