“Trust in the good Lord’s plan”. ‘As in Heaven’ is a coming-of-age Danish film directed by Tea Lindeburg, her first feature film debut currently showing at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Set in the 1800s, 14-year-old Lise (Flora Ofelia Hofmann Lindahl) is the eldest of her siblings is the first family member set to go to school, supported by her pregnant mother Anna (Ida Cæcilie Rasmussen). The family runs a farm, where Lise is given the confidence and hope to embark on a journey outside of what was considered the norm for women to do. A scene showed that Lise’s father does not support her and her mother’s decision to go to school, with slight undertones of gender discrimination in that era, women were restricted to do things that men could do.
What comes next in setting the direction of the plot, is when Anna goes into painful labour, and Lise witnesses the first time of pain and agony from her mother, who she looked up to as a strong independent woman of the family. The moment Lise heard the screams of her mother, rocked her confidence and hope in life, not knowing what she is supposed to do in this life-altering event.
Lise and her siblings were sheltered from seeing the hardships of their mother Anna, only to be raised by following the rules of the good Lord, as guided by their mother. Anna’s beliefs are devout to God’s plan as to what their destinies were meant to be. Superstitions are heavily referenced throughout As in Heaven, where Lise finds herself going against it, even though family and friends warn her not to do anything that would be considered blasphemous.
Lise’s character is a ‘tweener, a teenager in between transition to adulthood, which Flora’s face shows that silver lining looking like a child and some cases looking to mature. Her personality shows how she adapts to the people she is with, such as being a carefree child at the age of 14, to being the eldest sister to the younger siblings who look up to her, to being respectful and caring to her mother. These multiple roles come to a head during the time when she feared about what might happen to her mother during her long painful labour as the main plot device to see Lise processing this difficult time.
In some ways, Lise is still expecting herself to go off to school, but is conflicted with the ways of God and suffering of her mother’s labour. Mother Anna could have had a doctor come to assist in her childbirth, however Anna believes that it goes against God’s wishes, and believes that God will decide on Anna’s fate after having the child by herself. Seeing the servants arguing with each other and trying to make the judgment call to contact the doctor sees that most remain following Anna’s orders to leave it to God. Anna believes that if the doctor is called in, she will die.
When Lise overhears these conversations, Lise becomes very conflicted with herself, where the long-drawn-out fate of Anna’s childbirth leaves her in a whirlwind of uncertainty of what God’s plan is made for her. Even though she wants to go to school, she might have to take over the farm if her mother does not live, taking away her impending freedom she dreamed of having.
The film’s main theme is about the independence of a woman. What makes it interesting in this plot is that the initial path of Lise planning to go to school was the thought of independence she will be receiving. But having to deal with Anna’s labour, Lise’s independence was beginning to grow within the farm, without her fully realizing where her fate was going to be. In a way, Lise was being empowered to take care of the farm and her family, even though that was not the initial dream she wanted for herself. And going against all of God’s wishes that resulted in a chain reaction of unfortunate events in As in Heaven made it appear that Lise may have been responsible for causing her destiny to change.
‘As in Heaven’ does a great job in leaving hope and faith in God’s plans for Lise, with many scenes depicting the supernatural responses that responds to Lise’s thoughts and beliefs about God, only to make her realize that a desperate plea for God to give her the mercy of what is next for her destiny. Flora’s performance of Lise delivered in the way that truly shows the evolution of Lise’s teenage antics to her new sense of independence, even though it may not the expected path she was set to embark on.