''All About Anna'' is a 2005 Danish
erotic film
Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or hav ...
directed by
Jessica Nilsson
Jessica Nilsson (born 11 January 1965) is a Swedish director based in Denmark. She directed the feature film ''All About Anna'' (2005), along with other, less popular films.
She studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and later gradua ...
and starring
Gry Bay
Gry Wernberg Bay (born 15 August 1974) is a Danish actress. She is best known for her sexually provocative starring role in the feature film '' All About Anna'' (2005).
Career
Gry Bay got her first breakthrough with a recurring part in th ...
and Mark Stevens. The film is explicit in its exploration of sexual relationships.
It is a co-production between
Innocent Pictures
Innocent Pictures ApS is a Danish independent film company founded in 2001, originally as a subsidiary of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa, which is best known for the production of the erotic feature film ''All About Anna'' (2005), starring ...
and
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...
's
Zentropa Productions, and is the third of Zentropa's sex films for women, following ''
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
'' (1998) and ''
Pink Prison
''Pink Prison'' is a 1999 erotic film for women, directed by Lisbeth Lynghøft, and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa.
As the follow-up to '' Constance'' (1998), it was the second hard-core pornograp ...
'' (1999). All three films were based on the Puzzy Power Manifesto developed by Zentropa in 1997.
Plot
Anna (
Gry Bay
Gry Wernberg Bay (born 15 August 1974) is a Danish actress. She is best known for her sexually provocative starring role in the feature film '' All About Anna'' (2005).
Career
Gry Bay got her first breakthrough with a recurring part in th ...
) is a single woman who seeks to maintain an active sex life while staying clear of emotional involvement, after having been jilted by the love of her life, Johan (Mark Stevens). She has a relationship with Frank (Thomas Raft), but refuses to let him move in with her. When Johan shows up again after five years absence, she starts wondering how much longer she can maintain her emotional independence, and if that is what she wants. She has sex with him, loses his telephone number and cannot contact him. She ends her affair with Frank and when she is offered a job as costume designer in a French theatre, she decides to move to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. She leaves her flat to her flatmate Camilla (
Eileen Daly
Eileen Mary Theresa Daly (born 1 June 1963) is an English actress, director, film producer, writer, singer, presenter, songwriter and former adult film performer. She is also a contemporary scream queen, having starred in numerous cult horror ...
) who asks her permission to rent out the now empty room to a friend of hers. This friend turns out to be Johan, and Anna meets him as she leaves for Paris, where the local stage actors Pierre (
Morten Schelbech) and Sophie (
Ovidie
Ovidie is a French director, actress, producer, journalist, ex porn actress and a writer. First known as a porn actress from 1999 to 2003, she has since directed pornographic films as well as documentaries and has written several books.
Overvie ...
) offer new amorous temptations, but she worries about Johan finding a new love. In the end she returns to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and, after mistakenly thinking that Johan has been unfaithful to her, she faces her fears of commitment and is reunited with him.
Release and distribution
The film was originally released in November 2005 on a Scandinavian three-disc DVD. This was the first Danish pornographic film to be released with subtitles for the hearing-impaired, which was enthusiastically received by the deaf community.
The US theatrical premiere was held on 18 January 2007 in Chicago, where it was included in the series ''Cinematic Sexualities in the 21st Century'', arranged by
Doc Films The Documentary Film Group, better known as Doc Films, is a student-operated film society at the University of Chicago, Illinois, United States. According to a 2007 ''Chicago Tribune'' article, it is "the longest-running collegiate film society in ...
in collaboration with
The University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...
Film Studies Center.
The two-disc US DVD was released on January 29, 2008.
''All About Anna'' was officially selected for
Zurich Film Festival
Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005.
The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...
and
Io Isabella International Film Week
Io, Isabella International Film Week is the first film festival in the south of Italy, and the second in Italy, devoted to women and documentary filmmaking. Its Golden Waves award is presented for best female film, best creative documentary, and be ...
.
In September 2009, it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom as a double bill with
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier (''né'' Trier; 30 April 1956) is a Danish filmmaker, actor, and lyricist. Having garnered a reputation as a highly ambitious, polarizing filmmaker, he has been the subject of several controversies: Cannes, in addition to nominat ...
's ''
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...
'' (also a
Zentropa
Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film ''Europa'' (1991), which started the colla ...
-produced film with sexually explicit images).
Reception and awards
In 2006 it was nominated for two EroticLine Awards in the categories Best International Newcomer (
Gry Bay
Gry Wernberg Bay (born 15 August 1974) is a Danish actress. She is best known for her sexually provocative starring role in the feature film '' All About Anna'' (2005).
Career
Gry Bay got her first breakthrough with a recurring part in th ...
) and Best International Actor (Mark Stevens).
In 2007, it won three Scandinavian Adult Awards, including Best Scandinavian Couples Film, Best Scandinavian Actor (
Thomas Raft
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
) and Best Selling Scandinavian Star of 2006 (
Gry Bay
Gry Wernberg Bay (born 15 August 1974) is a Danish actress. She is best known for her sexually provocative starring role in the feature film '' All About Anna'' (2005).
Career
Gry Bay got her first breakthrough with a recurring part in th ...
).
In September 2007, Germany's biggest weekly magazine ''
Stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...
'' identified women's pornography as one of 50 trends, placed an image from ''All About Anna'' on the cover of its cultural supplement ''Stern Journal'', and commented:
In her book ''Secrets of Porn Star Sex'' (Infinite Ideas, 2007), British author
Marcelle Perks
Marcelle Perks is a British author and journalist living in Germany.
She specializes in writing sexually-themed guide books, but also writes short stories.
As a film journalist, she has contributed to such publications as ''British Horror Cin ...
includes a chapter on female-friendly porn, in which she concludes: "Rather than being intimidated by porn, do a bit of research and find something that you can have fun with. An ideal introduction movie is the hit film ''All About Anna'', a mainstream film that features real sex".
In April 2008, the U.S. trade journal ''
AVN'' gave the film an AAAAA Editor's Choice Review. It was one of only four films to receive the journal's highest rating that month. Critic
Jared Rutter
Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation.
Origin
In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of Enoch, ...
wrote:
In May 2008, French trade journal ''
Hot Vidéo
''Hot Vidéo'' is a French trade journal that covers the adult video industry. It was founded in June 1989 by Frank Vardon. It is now part of VCV Communications. Its average circulation date to 2011 is about 50,000 copies per month, while in the ...
'' #208 placed ''All About Anna'' highest in the category "la crème du porno feminine".
In May 2008, Danish lifestyle magazine ''Woman'' #112 had asked a group of female readers to rate a selection of erotic product, including books, websites, CDs etc. The highest score went to ''All About Anna''.
In June 2008, the trade journal ''AVN Europe'' gave the film an 8 out of 10 rating, and wrote:
In November 2008, the film was nominated for four
AVN Award
The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American adult video industry trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') to recognize achievement in various aspects of the creation and m ...
s in the following categories:
* Best Foreign Feature
* Best Music Soundtrack
* Best Packaging
* Best On-Line Marketing Campaign – Individual Project (AllAboutAnna.com)
This among other things marked the first Best Foreign Feature AVN Award nomination for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated company.
In January 2009, ''All About Anna'' ranked number two on a top-ten of female-friendly sex films published on the Website of Europe's biggest newspaper, ''
Bild
''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...
''. The list also included ''
Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
'' and ''
Pink Prison
''Pink Prison'' is a 1999 erotic film for women, directed by Lisbeth Lynghøft, and produced by Puzzy Power, a division of Lars von Trier's film company Zentropa.
As the follow-up to '' Constance'' (1998), it was the second hard-core pornograp ...
''.
Release versions
The film exists in at least three versions. The original Scandinavian DVD release contains both the Producer's Cut and the Director's Cut. A Softcore Version with no explicit sexual footage has also been released in Germany.
See also
*
List of mainstream films with unsimulated sex
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
* {{DNFt
''All About Anna'' reviewat
Fleshbot
Fleshbot is a sex-oriented weblog, founded by Gawker Media. It was launched in November 2003 as the third online title from Gawker. The range of subject matter includes everything from amateur sex blogs and thumbnail gallery posts to news about s ...
''All About Anna'' reviewat
Adult Video News
''Adult Video News'' (also called ''AVN'' or ''AVN Magazine'') is an American trade magazine that covers the adult video industry. '' The New York Times'' notes that ''AVN'' is to pornographic films what ''Billboard'' is to records. ''AVN'' spon ...
2005 films
2005 drama films
2005 LGBT-related films
2000s English-language films
2000s erotic drama films
Danish erotic drama films
Danish LGBT-related films
English-language Danish films
LGBT-related drama films
Lesbian-related films
Zentropa films