A great movie made with respect
'Under Stjernerne På Himlen' is a Danish biopic directed by Kasper Gaardsøe in his directorial debut. The movie tells the story about Tommy Seebach (played by Anders Matthesen), the Danish pop icon through the 1970s and 80s who got his big break by entering the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with the song 'Disco Tango'. 11 years later in 1990 he releases a greatest hits album and even though he has great love and affection from his family which includes his wife Karen (played by Neel Rønholt) and their three children Nicolai, Rasmus and Marie, he has become somewhat of a has-been in the eyes of his peers Keld Heick and Ivan Pedersen (played by Casper Philipson and Anders Juul respectively), as well as the head of entertainment at Danmarks Radio (played by Jacob Lohmann) who is responsible for the national Song Contest and wants to focus on the new generation. At the same time, Tommy has over time graduatelly become an alcoholic.
One night while singing a lullaby to his daughter Marie, Tommy gets the inspiration for his next song to the Song Contest and rushes to Keld Heick's in the middle of the night to write the lyrics, while Keld's wife Hilda (played by Vicki Berlin) makes coffee. It takes Tommy additional three years to submit the song, 'Under Stjernerne På Himlen', to the contest, but when he does he wins the contest and is qualified to Eurovision 1993 in Dublin. However, due to Tommy's high ambitions combined with the inner demons of his addiction he starts to face challenges on the home front, to which the big question comes clear: What is most important? The musical career or the family?
In general I was very moved by the movie which tells the story of one man's deroute which has great concequences on his life afterwards. Matthesen and Rønholt especially delivers some of the best acting in their career, and even though Matthesen is mostly known as a comedian in Denmark, he has lots of experience with making radio, music, children's litterature and acting, both in comedic roles as well as serious, dramatic roles. So I knew he was up for the challenge. However, the movie is held back by its own pacing with massive time skips throughout and the details of the intermediate passing time is told through vignettes of tabloid headline, i.e. What the general public knew already. When I go to see a biopic I am kind of expecting to see some sides of the people involved that the public doesn't already know, and we do get that (from time to time), but also a lot of stuff anyone who was there at the time or had read a biography or watched a documentary was already well aware of. But in the end, it is still a movie very much worth watching, especially since the remaining Seebach family has been very much involved in the process from the start, especially the son Rasmus Seebach who himself made a career as a pop singer-songwriter.
8 out of 10.
One night while singing a lullaby to his daughter Marie, Tommy gets the inspiration for his next song to the Song Contest and rushes to Keld Heick's in the middle of the night to write the lyrics, while Keld's wife Hilda (played by Vicki Berlin) makes coffee. It takes Tommy additional three years to submit the song, 'Under Stjernerne På Himlen', to the contest, but when he does he wins the contest and is qualified to Eurovision 1993 in Dublin. However, due to Tommy's high ambitions combined with the inner demons of his addiction he starts to face challenges on the home front, to which the big question comes clear: What is most important? The musical career or the family?
In general I was very moved by the movie which tells the story of one man's deroute which has great concequences on his life afterwards. Matthesen and Rønholt especially delivers some of the best acting in their career, and even though Matthesen is mostly known as a comedian in Denmark, he has lots of experience with making radio, music, children's litterature and acting, both in comedic roles as well as serious, dramatic roles. So I knew he was up for the challenge. However, the movie is held back by its own pacing with massive time skips throughout and the details of the intermediate passing time is told through vignettes of tabloid headline, i.e. What the general public knew already. When I go to see a biopic I am kind of expecting to see some sides of the people involved that the public doesn't already know, and we do get that (from time to time), but also a lot of stuff anyone who was there at the time or had read a biography or watched a documentary was already well aware of. But in the end, it is still a movie very much worth watching, especially since the remaining Seebach family has been very much involved in the process from the start, especially the son Rasmus Seebach who himself made a career as a pop singer-songwriter.
8 out of 10.
- RThyrring
- Apr 1, 2025