Barbara

A faithful adaption to the screen of Jørgen Frantz-Jacobsen's internationally acclaimed novel. Anneke van der Lippe performs admirably well in the lead role although she is up against the formidable odds of having to represent one of the most fabled literary portrayals of a woman in the history of Danish (and Faroese) literature. Jesper Christensen also gives an impressive performance as Johan Hendrik Heyde - the justice - who has retired from active participation in the game of love, but nevertheless seems to understand best the inherent paradoxes with which romance abounds.

The movie features many touching and humorous scenes as well as magnificent scenery filmed on location.

Although published in 1939, the book behind the movie was recently chosen to be among the best 25 Danish novels of the last century in a nationwide poll carried out by the two leading Danish newspapers. Among other titles this places the story in the company of masterpieces by authors such as Karen Blixen, Johannes V. Jensen and Martin Andersen Nexø. A fact which it would seem to me lends little credibility to the view of an earlier (Brazilian) commentator that the plot is supposedly of poor quality or unsympathetic.