Overview
A heart-wrenching tale of love and betrayal unfolds in the aftermath of a tragic accident.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- austere
- intimate
- quiet evening
- serious movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s emotional honesty, believable performances, and gritty low-budget realism, while some found its infidelity drama familiar and overly open-ended.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Niels and Cecilie’s affair develops amid Joachim’s paralysis and Marie’s guilt, making desire inseparable from responsibility.
The film’s gritty low-budget approach and emotionally direct hospital and domestic scenes emphasize ordinary spaces and raw reactions.
Joachim’s car-accident paralysis abruptly breaks his engagement and initiates the chain of care, guilt, and betrayal.
Joachim’s injury forces Cecilie, Marie, and Niels to reconsider marriage, care, autonomy, and the futures they had assumed.
Films like Open Hearts, and why
Scenes from a Marriage
raw marital drama, moral ambiguity, and emotionally unsparing treatment of infidelity
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
austere European romance centered on adultery, guilt, and fractured domestic commitments
Closer
intimate relationship drama about desire, betrayal, and the consequences of personal choices
After the Wedding
naturalistic Scandinavian drama portraying emotional betrayal within an established family
Movie Details
- Director
- Susanne Bier
- Release Date
- 2002-09-06
- Runtime
- 113 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (127)
Cast
- Sonja Richter
- Nikolaj Lie Kaas
- Mads Mikkelsen
- Paprika Steen
- Stine Bjerregaard
- Birthe Neumann
- Niels Olsen
- Ulf Pilgaard
- Ronnie Lorenzen
- Anders Nyborg
Common questions
- What is Open Hearts about?
- A devastating Danish romance follows a young woman’s life after her fiancé’s paralysis draws her into an affair with the husband of the accident’s guilty driver.
- What is Open Hearts like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Open Hearts as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Open Hearts violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Open Hearts as mild.
- What did critics think of Open Hearts?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s emotional honesty, believable performances, and gritty low-budget realism, while some found its infidelity drama familiar and overly open-ended.
- Which films are like Open Hearts?
- Films with a similar feel include Scenes from a Marriage, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Closer, and After the Wedding.
- How long is Open Hearts?
- Open Hearts runs 113 minutes.
