42-year old Tobias (Mikael Birkkjær) hears he has pancreatic cancer and only a few months to live. Initially he becomes depressed but goes through different emotions while learning to accept the situation. But why did a particular childhood memory flash in his mind the moment he heard about his illness? Tobias' old memories of his teenage relationship with Ida, a quietly rebellious girl next door, are shown in lengthy flashbacks, particularly the incident when she persuaded him into jumping from a balcony with a big parasol as his parachute. The young Tobias and Ida are played by Simon Kabel and Anna-Sofie Vegge Andersen respectively.
At first it looks like The Leap is going to be just another tragedy with sentimental violin music and lots of crying, but luckily the story makes unexpected turns as time passes on. In the first half of the film the flashbacks take almost as much time as the present day scenes, so the nature of young Tobias and Ida's relationship obviously bears a strong connection to the adult Tobias' view of the world. The focus is turned from accepting death to overcoming buried emotions from the past. Each of the main characters has their own past traumas, such as failing to believe in something, being hindered by an overprotective father or suffering from the loss of a loved one many years ago.
The themes are not explained thoroughly and are open to many interpretations. The film also doesn't allow itself to be restricted by the strict boundaries of realism and I don't think it needs to be completely believable in terms of our world, only its own. In any case, the actors are good, especially the girl who plays young Ida, and I loved the jazz music and the faded cinematography of the flashback scenes. I would dare to recommend Springet to anyone with an interest in films about accepting death, but it's refreshingly different from the conventions of the genre (well, at least if "death acceptance movies" can be called a genre). It should also be enjoyable to those who are fascinated by the relation of our personal memories of the past and our perception of the present.
