Dyrholm: We Should Be Grateful To 1970s Collectivists

Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune (Kollektivet), inspired by his upbringing in a Copenhagen academic collective during the 1970s, opened in Sweden on 15th July and heads to the UK on 29th July.

The Commune stars Trine Dyrholm as a bored woman who persuades her husband (Ulrich Thomsen) to start a collective in his inherited childhood home in an upmarket area of Copenhagen. The project results in friendship, love and togetherness until a love affair puts the close-knit community to the test.

In an interview with Dagens Nyheter, Dyrholm talks about the film which earned her the Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’s Berlin Film Festival:

“I think that we should be a little grateful to the 1970s collectivists who tried out so many different things for us. They were admittedly naïve… but many of their ideals and ideas were good. I think we need to get better at sharing and experimenting more – but of course, be aware of the consequences.”

“But I don’t know if I could handle the kind of collective that is depicted in the film. I would get very tired of having my entire private life played out before an audience at the dinner table every night.”

Dyrholm is currently filming the third season of The Legacy (Arvingerne), of which she will direct two episodes, and believes that there are some thematic similarities between that series and The Commune.

“Both feature themes such as parenting, heritage and environment. The Legacy is about a disparate and fragmented family that is involuntarily forced together by blood ties and inheritance. The Commune shows characters voluntarily trying to create an alternative family in the form of collective housing.”

Thomas Vinterberg was recently knighted by the French Embassy in Copenhagen for exposing “the dark sides of human nature with audacity”.