Den Attende

On 18 May 1993, 85 percent of eligible Danes went to the poll for a referendum on European unity, the outcome of which was very important to all Danes. The lives of the four people followed by Anders R_nnow-Klarlund in his début film are also fundamentally influenced by events on that day in May. The director uses the classic structure in which several people move entirely independently towards that one moment when their paths happen to cross. Jens, unpredictable and violent, escapes from the closed ward of a psychiatric hospital to be with his girlfriend. He somehow gets the silent roller-skater Pernilla to tag along. On their flight they bump into a birthday girl, the little daughter of the divorced singer Ulla who has to move house and perform on TV that day. The ambitious top salesman Michael arranges two call-girls to smooth the passage of his Italian deal and at the polling booth he bumps into Ulla. This makes him vote against, despite being a fanatical pro-European.Structured by media reports of the news of the day, the film follows events that fate has in store for the four characters. R_nnow-Klarlund uses a variety of styles that supply and effectively portray the inevitable clashes of personal and general interests.