She meets Dagmar, who runs an underground adoption agency
Narrative
Copenhagen 1919: A young working-class woman finds herself unemployed and pregnant. A strong connection blossoms, but her world is shattered when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. Denmark’s official submission for the “Best International Feature Film” category at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025. It’s the final days of the Great War, and Karoline is barely scraping by working in a factory.
When was the rampant drug use of the era ever portrayed so candidly?
She believes she’s a widow because her husband disappeared during the war (though Denmark didn’t actually participate), but she’s not receiving widow’s benefits because he wasn’t listed as dead. There’s a lot going on in the film and I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I won’t go into the plot in depth, except that the marketing is playing up something that isn’t as big a part of the film as one might expect. While this gets a lot of attention in the second half of the film, for me the real value of the film is the sense of reality surrounding Karoline’s story. When was the last time someone in a movie tried to convince a potential tenant to rent an apartment by telling them they could have running water for two full hours a day (from ten to noon, which might not be a great selling point since most people would be working during those hours)?
While Dagmar is an important character, the movie is clearly about Karoline and her struggles
Even what Dagmar is doing was relatively common back in the day, although I would hazard a guess that the trend was down now and it wasn’t happening as much as it used to. In fact, I might have liked the movie more if the marketing had been different and Dagmar hadn’t been mentioned at all, because it set the tone. On the other hand, it’s hard to say how I would feel about seeing the name Dagmar Overby on a door if I didn’t know beforehand that this real-life person was used in the movie. (It should be noted that the film is inspired by real-life events rather than based on them, so they try to keep some distance from the real Dagmar.) I feel like some audiences will find it hard to sympathize with Karoline, as she is sometimes it seems to make the right decision a little too late.
I like the look of the film
At the same time, there’s not much time or opportunity for ethics when you’re just trying to survive in a world where the odds are stacked against you. On the other hand, even though we know that the hope she’s been given would be in vain in this world, we still understand why she gives in to it. It’s black and white, and the entire town looks decrepit and barely holding together. It reminds us of the lack of concern for the well-being of, or even disdain for, the working poor.
Have things really changed that much?
The time depicted was over a century ago, but the concept of female bodily autonomy is under constant attack again. Of course, all art is in some way a mirror of the time in which it was made, but it seems easier to see the similarities here.