A Matter of Trust Review
Director: Annette K. Olesen | Script: Marie Louise Kaehne and Annette K. Olesen | Cast: Tryne Dyrholm (Eva), Morten Hee Anderson (Simon), Sofie Juul Blinkenberg (Maja), Jan Øster Bendtsen (Karina), Jakob Cedergren (Adam), Emil Aron Dorph (Emil), ea | Time to play: 105 minutes | Year: 2022
The mosaic movie, in which many characters populate various stories, remains immensely popular. Not all mosaic movies can match the level of Magnolia of Crashbut it is commendable for the creators if they manage to weave together different stories in a clever way.
That is not the case in the Danish drama. Question of confidence. With a little effort and with the help of the English title, the theme of ‘trust’ can be drawn from the five stories presented. They stand out on their own and revolve around people in difficult situations (both comedic and dramatic) where they must gain and maintain trust in themselves and others.
We start with Dr. Eva, who accompanies exhausted refugees on their return to Afghanistan. She is already facing heartbreaking scenes in the departure lounge. There’s also a couple who book an AirBnB to cheat, but have to keep the nosy owner away.
Newlyweds Simon and Maja go to a former classmate’s funeral and then there’s young Emil who accidentally sends a picture of his penis to the middle of school and then skips school and seeks the protection of a sympathetic teacher. . Finally, we see a girl with a black eye and her mother walking on the beach. Are they running from someone and what happened?
Question of confidence contains five short plots conceived by as many Danish authors and edited by the director and co-writer. Mutual cohesion can be called thematic with a certain fantasy. Because filmmaker Annette K. Olesen ties the stories together, she gives the impression that we have to discover connections and parallels. You are aware that a character in a story has a link with the others.
The stories vary widely in terms of atmosphere and tone. The sexual couple that is not allowed to rest evokes mainly comic situations. The doctor who accompanies him has to manage to hold his own among the refugees who would rather seek death than have to return to their country of origin.
The emotional charge is higher with the student who is ashamed of his action and therefore walks on thin ice. However, some authors do not go beyond sketching a vignette, in which the appeal to the viewer’s imagination and ability to interpret is too far a bridge. Because the quality and impact of stories vary widely, you can Question of confidence hard to qualify as anything more than a messy zap between often inconclusive situations, the quality of which varies widely.