Writer/director Niels Arden Oplev is best known for directing the 2009 adaptation of Steig Larsson’s cult novel Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a box office hit not only in his native Denmark but also worldwide; as well as Millennium, the Emmy-winning TV series based on Larsson’s books.  Rose, also a big box-office hit in Denmark, is a complete change of pace and tone: a heartfelt yet ultimately uplifting film about two sisters going on a cultural coach trip to France, in the summer of 1997.

Rose is inspired by the experiences of Oplev’s own two sisters: Maren Elisabeth, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia after returning from a trip to France; and Kirsten, who decades later took Maren Elisabeth for her first trip back there. In developing the film, Oplev interviewed Maren Elisabeth extensively about her memories of the trip, and saw it as “a unique chance to make a film about a mentally ill person that would not be depressing”.  

However, the intensely personal nature of the project greatly increased the pressures of production: although the main character of Inger is inspired by, rather than exactly like, Maren Elisabeth, it was important to Oplev that audiences laugh with her, rather than at her.  He describes showing the completed film to his sister for the first time as “the closest I’ve ever come to a religious experience”: as she talked about her views on the film, “seeing somebody who has been so unwell for 40 years suddenly be so clear – it was a magical moment”.

Inger is sensitively played by one of Denmark’s biggest stars, Sofie Grabol, who (along with her Faroese sweater) achieved international fame as detective inspector Sarah Lund in the BAFTA-winning TV series The Killing.  

“Brims with genuine feeling … keenly illustrates how stigma surrounding mental illness hurts neurodivergent people and their families”. Natalia Winkelman, New York Times.