Sauna

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Sauna

2025

1h 43m

Drama

LGBTQ+

Romance

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Popcornmeter

88%

Tomatometer

16 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

SAUNA follows Johan, a young gay man, through his experiences with love and sex. He has just started working as a receptionist at Adonis, Copenhagen's only gay sauna, where he works and spends much of his time. For Johan, the city is like a boundless paradise of opportunities with bars, parties, and one-night stands, but it is only when he meets transgender William that he experiences love up close. The love between the two is put to a tough test as their relationship develops within a society governed by rigid ideas about gender, love, and identity.

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David Rooney

The Hollywood Reporter

Jun 27

Irrespective of some minor script weaknesses, Broe’s good-looking first feature conveys emotional maturity and a wrenching depth of feeling, without ever tipping into melodrama.

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David Opie

IndieWire

Feb 18

B+

Sauna offers a unique yet relevant love story that treats the complexities of queer desire with nuance and compassion.

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Guy Lodge

Variety

Feb 6

On occasion, the film underlines its wider social points with a heavy hand, though there’s sensual fluency and delicacy here too.

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André Hereford

Metro Weekly (Washington, DC)

Dec 11

2/5

Danish queer indie 'Sauna' yields tepid drama chronicling the romance between a cis gay man and a trans man.

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

Nov 23

3.5/5

The storytelling is a little uneven and elusive, going through a few stretches that are rather mopey, but the documentary-style realism continually surprises us with knowing details and subtle insights.

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Kent Hill

Film Threat

Nov 19

7.5/10

Sauna is a real love story.

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Trevor S

@Pdxreviewer 2d

I was expecting a gay movie and more sauna content, given the name. It was my fault for not reading the brief description, but this is a straight movie. It features a Man and a Trans Man (biological woman), and is misclassified. To be a "gay" film requires two people of the same biological sex. I am highly offended by it being classified as a gay film and stealing/taking away from gay identity.

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Peter F

@Mansor Dec 24

After seeing the partly naked man on the dvd cover and the fact that the film was called SAUNA ,I had expected to see full frontal nudity.Sadly the film was completely devoid of any male frontal nudity. The film was only partly set in a sauna so a different dvd cover would not make buyers think what I thought.A good story just a pity that the cinematography had an awful lot of hand held camera shots.

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Mathias Broe

Director

Magnus Juhl Andersen

Johan

Nina Terese Rask

William

Dilan Amin

Asif

Klaus Tange

Michael

Peter Oliver Hansen

Rolf

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Synopsis

SAUNA follows Johan, a young gay man, through his experiences with love and sex. He has just started working as a receptionist at Adonis, Copenhagen's only gay sauna, where he works and spends much of his time. For Johan, the city is like a boundless paradise of opportunities with bars, parties, and one-night stands, but it is only when he meets transgender William that he experiences love up close. The love between the two is put to a tough test as their relationship develops within a society governed by rigid ideas about gender, love, and identity.

Director: Mathias Broe
Producer: Mads-August Grarup Hertz
Screenwriter: Mathias Broe, William Lippert, Mads Ananda Lodahl, Mathias Broe, William Lippert
Distributor: Breaking Glass Pictures
Production Co: Nordisk Film
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+, Romance
Original Language: Danish
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 18, 2025
Runtime: 1h 43m

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