Strandet (Stranded)
2023 · 23m · Denmark
Directed by Peter Salling
Genres: comedy, drama, romance
Tones: melancholic, tender, tense
Backpacking through the Amazon, Penelope is dumped by her boyfriend Hugo. When a pandemic shuts down all air traffic from their island, they are forced to isolate together in a tiny, sweltering hotel room — and Penelope eyes a last chance to win him back.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Twenty-three minutes of an ex-couple sweating in a hotel room during the pandemic — a setup that lives or dies on the performances, and I've got no reason to trust them yet. Aftersun comp is doing optimistic work.
Salling's studio-set Amazon recalls the artifice-as-honesty of Lars von Trier's Dogville more than its naturalist comparisons; at 23 minutes it tests the chamber form's stamina. Modest in ambition but precise.
22:35 is long for a relationship two-hander, and the studio-as-jungle conceit only works if the sound design carries the outside world — the page doesn't tell me who designed it, so I'd need to actually hear it before committing. Personal pandemic-source-material can cut both ways.
Reviews
Strandet is a well-executed two-hander that is a standout example of how a simple premise can come to life with two outstanding performances and flawless filmmaking.
Festivals
- Odense International Film Festival 2023, Best Danish Acting Performance (Kimmie Liv Sennova)
- Nordisk Panorama
- Nordic Film Days Lübeck
- Tirana International Film Festival