The Commune

Released May 19, 2017

1h 52m

Drama

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List

71%

93 Reviews

Tomatometer

59%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

Personal desires clash with solidarity and tolerance in a Danish commune.

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Critics Consensus

The Commune may not stand with Thomas Vinterberg's greatest work, but the end results remain thought-provoking and overall absorbing.

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isla s

This is quite a slow burner, plot pace wise. Its mostly about family dynamics and trust. It took a while for me to feel especially interested in the characters but I thought it was somewhat of a powerful watch by the time it headed towards the end and I would say it may make you think. If your not keen on character focussed dramas then this won't be for you. Also of course you likely have to rely on the subtitles, as its in Danish, although I was pleased to see that the subtitles were quite large in terms of text size, compared to other films with smaller subtitles, so if anything it was slightly less of an issue than it might have been. I felt sorry for the wife Anna and I did find myself wondering what might happen next, as things moved on plot wise but it is, as I say, a relatively slow burner, so don't expect fast paced action or anything of that sort. Its a reasonably intriguing watch and overall I suppose I'd say its a good watch, hence my rating.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

It was never going to work out was it.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

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Audience Member

Trine Dyrholm delivers a stunning, sensitive and vulnerable performance and a deeply moving portrait of a woman pushed to the side by her long term partner yet. It completely delivers on the commune experience in Hellerup in the 1970's.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

The Commune (Collective) 2017â??Whatâ??s the appeal of watching a movie in Danish with subtitles? Well, viewing The Communeâ??s first half is like entering a party-in-progress where every person is attractive and funny. Plus, thereâ??s great period detailsâ??from the 70s cars on the streets of Copenhagen to the hippie haircuts. In addition to all that, we learn that the Danes of 40 years ago celebrated by swimming nude together and spend their nights trading witticisms over rivers of beer and wine. Unfortunately, Utopia never lasts long and free love is never freeâ??and this filmâ??s laughs end abruptly. Imagine if the second half of Old School focused on Frank descending into crippling depression over his crumbling marriage. Despite that rapid tonal shift, The Commune mostly succeeds on the strength of great acting by people who havenâ??t yet seen the inside of a Beverly Hills Botox clinic. Those who donâ??t mind a bit of reading with their drama will find a lot to like. I give it a 7/10. Well worth the $6.99 Amazon rental.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

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Audience Member

Anna (Trine Dyrholm) is a television newswoman; her husband, Erik (Ulrich Thomsen), teaches architecture at a university. When Erik's father passes away, the couple must decide what to do with the huge house that Erik grew up in, as it's too expensive for them to occupy on their own. Erik prefers selling, but Anna - who has become frustrated with Erik's dour outlook and longs for something new - suggests that they use this opportunity to experiment with communal living. Energized by the era's relaxed taboos, Anna and Erik assemble a diverse, rather motley crew of cohabitants and embark on their adventure, but soon take very different paths. While Anna is anxious to stay home and experience life with her new extended family, Erik finds a more traditional way of reinvigorating himself: an affair with one of his students. When Anna tries to reconcile these two situations, the commune - and the marriage at its core - begins to unravel... Thomas Vinterberg´s "The Commune" is a story about personal desires, solidarity and tolerance that ends up in a clash. It´s impossible to not draw a comparison to Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's second full-length film "Together" from 2000 which is also based on communal living in the 70s in Sweden. You might say that "The Commune" is simply Denmark´s version of "Together". However, while "Together" managed to keep a solid line between comedy and drama and keep the characters just on the border of becoming caricatures, "The Commune" fails in doing the same and all the characters just becomes self-absorbed caricatures without any characteristics you like. The story ends up going forward with a low flame and Erik´s battle with his doubts on what he wants from life isn´t all that intriguing. The large ensemble of characters is just bickering socialist hippies that only thinks about themselves while Anna is falling to pieces infront of them and they dont´seem to care. Everything feels like it has been taken out of the "Film for Dummies" book and the only thing that might contain some sort authenticity is the environments and the clothes. And I can´t help to be a bit tired of seeing Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Lars Ranthe etc yet again. The A-List of Danish actors/actresses that seems to occupy every bloody role in Denmark. Time to get in some new blood in the Danish movie industry. Trivia: The film is based on Thomas Vinterberg's play of the same name, which is inspired by his colourful childhood in an academic commune north of Copenhagen.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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Audience Member

It is not so much about the life of a commune but about the end of a marriage.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

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Thomas Vinterberg

Director

Trine Dyrholm

Anna

Ulrich Thomsen

Erik

Helene Reingaard Neumann

Emma

Lars Ranthe

Ole

Fares Fares

Allon

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The Commune: Trailer 1

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

The Commune turns out to be a fairly predictable exercise in neoliberal backlash, as a bunch of free-love radicals crash on the rocks of their own enlightenment.

Jul 13, 2017

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Pat Padua

Washington Post

Dyrholm ... movingly captures the struggles of a middle-aged career woman who revels in the new freedoms of the 1970s, while ultimately falling victim to them.

Rated: 3/4

May 25, 2017

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Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

Trine Dyrholm delivers a powerful performance as Anna, a woman whose heart won't align with her head, as does Ulrich Thomsen as the testy Erik.

May 25, 2017

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David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

Shows how tricky this idea is to pull off, even in a society consistently rated one of the happiest in the world.

Jun 8, 2020

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Jorge Ignacio Castillo

The Canadian Crew

The Danish keep on killing it at finding new angles in family dramas. In The Commune, we see a marriage fall apart as they try to assimilate the new limits of personal freedom during the swinging 70s.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 28, 2020

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Daniel Barnes

Dare Daniel

A weightless and unworthy drama about Copenhagen communal living in the 1970s.

Rated: 2.5/5

Mar 29, 2019

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Synopsis

Personal desires clash with solidarity and tolerance in a Danish commune.

Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Screenwriter: Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainments
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Danish
Release Date (Theaters): May 19, 2017, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $38.3K
Runtime: 1h 52m
Sound Mix: DTS, SDDS, Dolby Digital

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