I recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Árni Ásgeirsson makes an impressive directorial debut with his first feature length film. Ásgeirsson is Icelandic born but he is a graduate of the Polish National Film School where several notable filmmakers came out of including director Roman Polanski. He also co-wrote the screenplay along with Denijal Hasanovic and Jón Atli Jónasson. The story is set in Reykjavik as successful optometrist Pétur (Hilmir Jonsson) and his wife Asta (Margrét Vilhjálmsótter) are expecting their second child. Their 10 year old son Örn (Aaron Brink) has a fainting spell during a soccer game and is taken to a hospital where routine blood test are done leading to the discovery that Pétur is not his biological father. Pétur walks out on the family and checks into a hotel room to contemplate his once solid marriage that is now crumbling. He takes to heavy drinking and initiates an affair with his secretary Anna (Laufey Elíasdóttir) who is almost 20 years his junior. His brother-in-law sympathizes with him but his sister his disgusted with his new found life. A strong cast and story with some comic relief to offset the brooding drama. Skillful cinematography from Tuomo Hutri. I liked this story and will look forward to see more from director Ásgiersson. I would give this an 8.0 out of 10.
Review of Thicker Than Water
