Beginnings
After a stroke disrupts a couple’s planned divorce, a Danish family must renegotiate love, caregiving, and parenthood under one roof.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- melancholic
- intimate
- restrained
- quiet evening
- serious drama night
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Thomas and Ane are amid a divorce but have not told their children before Ane's stroke forces the family situation into the open.
Ane's apoplectic stroke interrupts Thomas's plan to move in with his girlfriend and reshapes the couple's responsibilities.
The plot centers on staying together, parenting, and adapting to a changed reality after a stroke.
The Danish-language Nordic production focuses on divorce, parenthood, illness, and family obligations in an understated register.
Films like Beginnings, and why
A Separation
shared intimate marital crisis, family secrecy, ethical pressure, and restrained social realism
Amour
shared stroke-related caregiving, marriage under emotional strain, and devastating domestic intimacy
The Father
shared medical disruption, altered family roles, subjective domestic drama, and compassionate seriousness
Movie Details
- Director
- Jeanette Nordahl
- Release Date
- 2025-06-27
- Runtime
- 96 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (14)
Cast
- Trine Dyrholm
- David Dencik
- Johanne Louise Schmidt
- Bjørk Storm Engelshardt Kirkegaard
- Luna Fuglsang Svelmøe
- Christine Gjerulff
- Kurt Dreyer
- Hanne Uldal
- Christopher Nallo
- Alvin Olid Bursøe
Common questions
- What is Beginnings about?
- After a stroke disrupts a couple’s planned divorce, a Danish family must renegotiate love, caregiving, and parenthood under one roof.
- What is Beginnings like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Beginnings as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Beginnings violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in Beginnings.
- Which films are like Beginnings?
- Films with a similar feel include A Separation, Amour, and The Father.
- How long is Beginnings?
- Beginnings runs 96 minutes.
