My Eternal Summer (2024)
Danish film is really on a roll these years, with new directors bringing new fresh ideas to the table. Which has been really needed for a while. In that light, my assessment of this beautiful little touching drama may be a little more critique than it otherwise would have. Because it just isn’t quite up there with other recent debuts like Second Victims.
To start with what works, and I need to applaud how the film perfectly capture the atmosphere of staying in a summerhouse in Denmark. The sounds of the birds, the feeling of being remote, the boredom, Tour de France on TV. Everything is spot on. The story about the dying mother is obviously tragic in itself, but the focus is on the 15 year old daughter Fanny. She has a proper internal conflict of being young and wanting to get out in the world, but has to stay with her dying mother for the summer holiday. The film does manage to capture that emotional dilemma of the need to live one’s own life and being there for a close relative. I will also highlight a certain scene where family and friends are gathered for a birthday party, and it is clear for everyone that this will be their last farewell to this dying woman. The heavy emotional weight of each guest leaving the house through the door was really powerful in its own right.
Where I think the film falls short is sadly with Kaya Toft playing Fanny. She was great as the even younger daughter in A Perfectly Normal Family, but her acting falls flat and unauthentic for me here. Not convincing in the way such a central role needs to be. Still, that is highly subjective and I do recommend people seeing this, because it could very well be a totally different experience.
Rating: 3