May el-Toukhy Adapts Tove Ditlevsen Memoir

Director May el-Toukhy (Queen Of Hearts) is to adapt Dependency (Gift), Tove Ditlevsen’s third memoir in the Copenhagen Trilogy, as a four-part mini series which she will co-write with Maren Louise Käehne (Long Story Short).

Gift follows Tove Ditlevsen through her four marriages to four very different men. It is the story of a woman who breaks free and rises up the social ladder but is doomed never to belong while her overriding sense of loneliness is soothed by men, children, drugs, fame and chaos. This is the story of the creation of one of Denmark’s most important writers, whose creative urge was both her salvation and a curse.

Maren Louise Käehne said: “Tove Ditlevsen’s life, in all its devilish complexity, is a fascinating and inspiring substance for us as filmmakers. She wants it all – career, children, love, freedom – and at the same time is constantly drawn to destroy any kind of harmony and happiness.”

“Tove’s existential division between life’s opposing longings and dreams resonates with today’s audience and us as narrators. She is an identifiable and enigmatic personality that one never gets tired of exploring, and her experiences tread a fine line between recognisability and unpredictability that makes it an unsurpassed dramatic substance to translate into film.”

Producer, Lina Flint, added: “Gift is an absolutely fantastic work that is complex, brutal and touching and I cannot imagine anyone better at telling and interpreting Tove Ditlevsen’s story than May and Maren Louise. With them at the helm of this great cinematic work, viewers can look forward to a modern and at the same time universal tale of existential rootlessness and a woman’s pursuit of something greater.”