The Door: La porte du passé

It was quite challenging, being in the states, to find this movie for my collection with decent subtitles. By far it has to be watched in its original German language. Watching the dubbed versions are horrific and kill the movie entirely. Which is a crime because this really is a very interesting and gripping film. That characters are dynamic and plot does manage to have it's twits and turns. The interactions are completely believable and, once again, Mads Mikkelsen turn in a very good performance. Then again he very very very rarely turns in a sub- par performance. Even the child actor in this is good. I can not praise this movie enough. Very high quality, in my opinion, and I'm usually pretty critical of movies. This is the international movie I show my friends when they tell me they want to watch something good from another country.

This movie is easily the best German movie I have seen in the last three years. It is a haunting and atmospheric drama with some science-fiction elements, an eerie touch of suspense and even psychological horror as well as some action scenes. This flick has also a strong philosophical character without being too educative. The gripping question of fate and morality may affect you way beyond this movie and I thought about this intense film many days after I have watched it first.

Normally, I hardly give elevated ratings but everything feels right about the movie. The acting of the movie is simply great. Let's point out that Mads Mikkelsen is playing the role of his life and proves once again that he is a great actor that is able to improve every time again and again. He is amongst my favourite actors now. There are many promising German actors that are delivering more than solid jobs here.

The scenario of this movie is based on a novel and filled with complex actions, cliffhangers and twists, just like a great book. I am really looking forward to read the novel now and though I can't yet compare both, I feel that the movie was intense, detailed and diversified. What I really find fascinating is that the movie, even though the main plot is based on a fictional idea that one could associate to a science-fiction or fantasy movie, the whole flick seems real, authentic and down to earth. The mixture is unique and credible. The movie is not about a magic door that leads to the past or present. This little and only fantastic detail helps to kick the whole story off and one is quickly face to face with situations that mix dreams and reality, wishes and deceptions, hopes and despairs so that one doesn't care about whether the introduction is not fitting or too unreal. This movie is not about something exactly supernatural, it's a lot about the true human character and its ideologies and behaviours.

The movie has what I consider a perfect structure, it slowly introduces the main characters and creates more and more a creepy atmosphere with some weird, surprising and shocking scenes that lead to a dramatic, emotional and action filled ending. You really get drowned into the whole story and feel with the characters.

The way the movie is filmed is full of details and the angels and close ups add a lot to the atmosphere of the film. The movie score underlines the incredible and creative story that starts as a drama and ends as a psychological thriller that is more intense than many horror flicks.

I highly recommend this brilliant and explosive mixture that touches your heart, your nerves and your brain. Spread the word about this rather unknown European flick that should gain worldwide attention as it has now come out in North America and the rest of the world.

An interesting concept no doubt, 'The Door' just doesn't execute it all that well.

It starts off decently and I was interested in seeing where it would go. However, I feel like it lost its way very quickly and suddenly became rather underwhelming. The performances of Mads Mikkelsen (who's German was actually dubbed by Ingo Hülsmann, annoyingly) and Jessica Schwarz, while more than fine, don't set the film alight either - nor do any other elements of this 2009 release.

A disappointment all in all. Forgettable!

/////////// s/o the cast: Mads Mikkelsen Jessica Schwarz Valeria Eisenbart Heike Makatsch Tim Seyfi Thomas Thieme.

The premise of this story is so utterly ridiculous, that you rapidly appreciate that it can go in any direction. Whatever the writers choose to pursue as the actual tale, is entirely their right.

What they do pursue, is a tense little drama based around the situation that the magic creates. The result is a dark, edgy, occasionally morbid fairy tale - one could argue that all fairy tales are like that anyway.

Mads gives his usual beautiful-teak performance (I'm sure the man has more than one act... then again, I don't really care if he does), and the supporting cast, particularly the wife and daughter, are excellent.

I did like the way the story gets on top of you, and accelerates. There is a story by Charles Stross that this movie reminds me of, but I can't give you the name without spoiling (it's also not one of his better tales I'm afraid).

Where I could possibly knock off points would be maybe in the logic, but then this isn't an SF tale, it's fantasy. It's also a little long for the tale it tells, it could have been just a bit more compressed for the content. Finally, it's just not a work that moved me - it's good, it's gripping, it's entertaining. But it's not high art.

I can recommend this film, just don't expect it to blow your mind.

A film about coping with grief after the loss of a daughter. It combines drama with mystery; the tunnel into the past can be read as a symbol for the inner psychological labyrinth of a human soul, attempts to come to terms with the past to ease the pain, find a way out of despair.

A movie is a bit darker than I expected. That's not bad, but the last part of the movie is weak. And when a dark episode is weak, that looks like a comedy.

Nevertheless, it's a complex film that is definitely worth watching. Much of what makes "The Door" good can be attributed to Mads Mikkelsen's acting, who offers an impressive character performance. There is a nice depicting of father-daughter relationship.