The Door (5 Stars)

This is a film that I've been regularly watching once a year ever since I first discovered it in 2014. Every time I watch it I have the same feelings. It starts slowly, and I ask myself if I made a mistake rating it so highly in the past. It continues slowly, and the intensity overpowers me, so I have to say, "Yes, it's worth every bit of praise I've heaped on it, and more".

The film makes me sit and think every time I watch it. That's not because the film itself has any philosophical message it wants to push at the viewer. It's because the themes portrayed in the film are topics that fascinate me personally, and I assume they would fascinate many other people. Don't we all wish we could go back in time and put right mistakes we made in our life? And if it were only possible to go back in time if it cost a price, how much would we be willing to pay? Would I be prepared to kill in order to have a better life? My immediate answer is No, but I shouldn't overestimate my own morality. I could slowly be seduced to do evil, like David Andernach in the film. David has lost his wife and his daughter, but he gets them back by committing just one little murder. Then another. Then another. When will the cycle stop?

Mads Mikkelsen is perfect for the role. His sad brooding features are too intense for most roles, but they are perfect for "The Door". It was so important for the director Anno Saul to have Mads Mikkelsen in the lead role that he wasn't put off by the fact that he spoke no German. Mads learnt his lines phonetically. The end result didn't sound good enough, so the dialogue was dubbed by the German theatre actor Ingo Hülsmann. That sounds like a potential disaster, but the lips match perfectly throughout.

My personal definition of a good film is that it's a film I want to watch at least three times. In the case of "The Door" I'll continue watching it as long as I live. It's a masterpiece.

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