Tórshavn in the 18th century: Poul, the new pastor for Várga parish, arrives by ship in the Faroe archipelago's capital. Among the people waiting there for him is Barbara, the widow of his two(!) predecessors, their comparatively early demises blamed on her demanding nature. Barbara is indeed a free spirit who chooses to love or pleasure whom she fancies. Despite all the locals' spiteful, envious warnings, Poul falls in love with her.
Barbara is a visually splendid, wryly ironic melodrama about marriage, desire, rumour-mongering, hypocrisy, promiscuity, faith and fidelity based on Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen's eponymous classic; and Malmros's only film rooted essentially in his passion for cinema: Barbara looks and feels like his version of a Truffaut costume drama, i.e. a work in the vein of La Sirène du Mississippi (1969) or L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975). An overlooked masterpiece ripe for serious re-appraisal.
- Director
- Nils Malmros
- Country of production
- Denmark
- Year
- 1997
- Festival Edition
- IFFR 2014
- Length
- 143'
- Medium
- Betacam Digi
- Languages
- Danish, Faroese
- Producer
- Per Holst
- Production Company
- Per Holst Film
- Sales
- Nordisk Film International Sales
- Screenplay
- Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen
- Cinematography
- Jan Weincke
- Editor
- Birger Møller Jensen
- Production Design
- Søren Krag Sørensen, Lasse Westfelt
- Sound Design
- Tiziano Crotti, Jan Juhler
- Music
- Gunner Møller Pedersen
- Cast
- Anneke von der Lippe, Lars Simonsen
- Website
- http://www.trustnordisk.com/film/1997-barbara