San Sebastian Film Festival 2022 | Forever

Forever from filmmaker Frelle Petersen is a story about life, and it does this by setting its focus on a family in grief. The film stars Jette Søndergaard (as Lily), Mette Munk Plum (as Maren), Eskil Tonnesen (as Henrik), and Ole Sørensen (as Egon).

The film introduces you to the characters with a celebration of life, with a birthday celebration, with both parents and grown children in attendance. Birthday celebrations become a common thread in the film when Henrik is dead, the stark differences in the celebration of birthdays are good expressions of their grief. While the theme isn’t uncommon, there were some nice touches established early on that helped build the resonance.

The film had a long build-up before Henrik died. This was important because to understand the change the characters went through in his absence, we had to see what their world was like with him in it. And that doesn’t necessarily mean scenes he was physically there for, but just by existing in their world. For example, throughout the film Lily and her husband receive fertility treatments. In a scene, while Henrik is still alive but not present, Lily’s nervous about getting her fertility injection (and who can blame her), so her husband distracts her by getting her to play video games. It’s a sweet moment. A sequence that Henrik is physically present has him testing out his coffee beans and taking great pride in his work. Then arrives at the business he works at with his father (Ego), only for his father to tease him when the customers prefer to drink the same coffee they’ve enjoyed for years instead of the fancy beans Henrik has been bringing in. Both these moments, and many more, linger and play out in different ways in Henrik’s absence.

There wouldn’t be much of a film if the characters handled their grief in a healthy manner. And the characters don’t. They each grieve differently, but all their methods manage to hurt each other. Their grief also affects their ability to do their jobs. In Lily’s case, she needs to take a leave from work. Though that leave begins the healing process for herself and her father as they find a method to connect with Henrik’s memory in a way that creates new memories and brings them some happiness. Maren, whose grief is foreign to the other two because of how she moves through it, is also a longer journey as she has to find a way to open herself up about her feelings.

The film also doesn’t purport easy fixes to grief. Even when the family seizes life and appears to be moving on (the rollercoaster), we glimpse that they are still work-in-progress and that grief can still come at you, even during moments of joy.

SPOILER AHEAD:

I really thought with all the mentions of sky jumping in the first half of the movie that Maren was going to sky jump before the end of the film. So, I was super surprised when she didn’t. I guess the group rollercoaster ride was a substitute (also much more budget-friendly), but it seemed like a Chekov’s gun kind of thing the way her co-worker brought it up more than once.

Forever (Norway) was an Official Selection at the 70th San Sebastián Film Festival.