You can't lie your way out of the past. That's the basic philosophy behind Soren Kragh-Jacobsen's new film. Kresten lives in Copenhagen yuppie circles with the prospect of a glittering career until he receives a phone call on his wedding night. From the depths of the country he hears that his father has died. He has trouble explaining the situation, as he has told everyone, including his wife Claire, that he had no living relatives. He returns to his father's dilapidated run-down farm and comes across his elder brother, Rud, a lonely seedy simpleton quite unable to fend for himself. Kresten is embarrassed by the prospect of having his poverty-stricken redneck past unveiled, and keeps his wife at bay with one lie after another. But the feelings that well up in him on his reunion with Rud inspire a desperate plan: To enable his return to his gilded city existence he advertises for a housekeeper to look after his brother. But when beautiful Liva (Iben Hjejle) arrives, everything is turned upside down. Because Liva isn't who she pretends she is either. With a highly suspicious on her way to the farm, a nutty brother in the back garden, old enemies in the farmyard, and a lovely lady in the bedroom, Kresten's problems begin for real....
Production Danmarks Radio (DR) [dk]; Nimbus Film Productions [dk]; SVT Drama [se]; Zentropa Entertainments [dk];
Cast Names Elith Nulle Nykjær; Iben Hjejle; Anders W. Berthelsen; Jesper Asholt; Emil Tarding; Anders Hove; Sofie Gråbøl; Paprika Steen; Mette Bratlann; Susanne Storm; Ellen Hillingsø; Sidse Babett Knudsen; Søren Fauli; Søren Malling; Kjeld Nørgaard; Kirsten Vaupel; Torben Jensen; Klaus Bondam; Lene Laub Oksen; Line Kruse; Sofie Stougaard; Rasmus Haxen; Ole Møllegaard; Esben Pedersen; Christian Sievert; Arthur Jensen; Albert Pedersen; Morten Flyverbom; Christian Grønvall; Jens Basse Dam;
Box Office USD 585,016
Release Date 1999-09-03 (Telluride Film Festival) 2000-02-25 (New York City, New York)
Genres Romance; Comedy; Drama;
MPAA Rating [?] Rated R for strong sexuality and language, and for some violence.