''Bleeder'' is a 1999 Danish
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
Nicolas Winding Refn
Nicolas Winding Refn (; born 29 September 1970), also known as Jang, is a Danish film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for his collaborations with Mads Mikkelsen, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling.
He gained great success early in ...
. The film was successful in Denmark, but did not live up to the success of Refn's previous film ''
Pusher''.
Plot
The film follows the friends Leo and Lenny, who live in
Nørrebro
Nørrebro (, ) is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate (''Nørreport''), which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current Nørreport station ...
, a working-class neighborhood in
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 ...
. Leo lives in a rundown apartment with his girlfriend Louise. Lenny is a shy and quiet film expert who works with his and Leo's mutual friend Kitjo, in a video store that rents out
art film
An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily f ...
s as well as a huge collection of pornographic films.
As a subplot, we follow Lenny, who is trying to build a relationship to Lea, a girl that works in a local grill bar. Lenny asks Lea out to see a movie, but he chickens out when he sees her at the theatre. Lenny spends most of his time both at home and at work watching films.
When Leo finds out that Louise is pregnant and wants to keep the baby, he becomes more and more aggressive. After witnessing a beating at a club he gets himself a gun. During a normal film night, Leo pulls a gun on Lenny and Kitjo. Leo berates Lenny for his life style, and expresses his disdain for his own life, feeling trapped in a dead end. Later Leo, in despair, hits Louise, and is threatened by her brother, Louis. When it happens again, Louise loses the baby. Louis takes a gruesome revenge by injecting
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
infected blood into Leo's body. Leo retaliates in an equally gruesome manner, shooting Louis in the stomach, then shooting off his own hand and letting the blood drip into Louis' wound. Leo then commits suicide.
Kitjo brings Lenny to Leo's funeral but Lenny cannot bring himself to go. Life continues, and Lenny casually tells Kitjo that he has been offered a job in another store, but does not think he will accept as he has to change his routine. Lenny seeks up Lea again. They both seem shy towards each other, and have trouble communicating. Lenny asks Lea out a second time; the final image of the film shows them alone in the grill/bar where Lea works thus ending the film on a hopeful note.
Cast
''Bleeder'' features a relatively small
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast to ...
, where the most of the actors, except Corfixen and Andersson, previously starred in Refn's debut film ''Pusher''. Jensen only had a small role in ''Pusher'', his role in ''Bleeder'' is more developed.
*
Kim Bodnia
Kim Bodnia (born 12 April 1965) is a Danish actor, writer, and director. He became widely known for his role as police detective Martin Rohde in the Scandinavian crime drama series '' The Bridge''. He became internationally known for his lead role ...
- Leo
*
Mads Mikkelsen
Mads Dittmann Mikkelsen, (; born 22 November 1965) is a Danish actor. Originally a gymnast and dancer, he rose to fame in Denmark as an actor for his roles such as Tonny in the first two films of the ''Pusher'' film trilogy (1996, 2004), Det ...
- Lenny
*
Rikke Louise Andersson - Louise
*
Levino Jensen - Louis
*
Liv Corfixen
Liv Corfixen (born 13 January 1973) is a Danish actress and documentary filmmaker.
Early life
Corfixen is the daughter of cinematographer Teit Jørgensen and actress and editor Lizzie Corfixen. But in a French Interview her husband Nicolas Wind ...
- Lea
*
Zlatko Burić - Kitjo
*
Claus Flygare - Joe
* Marko Zecewic - Marko
* Gordana Radosavljevic - Mika
* Dusan Zecewic - Dusan
* Ole Abildgaard - Video shop customer
* Karsten Schrøder - Røde
* Sven Erik Eskeland Larsen - Svend
Soundtrack
Music is used heavily throughout the entire film. The soundtrack features many Danish artists, including
Peter Peter Peter Peter may refer to:
*Peter Peter (Canadian musician) (born 1984), Canadian singer-songwriter
*Peter Peter (Danish musician)
Peter Schneidermann better known as Peter Peter (born 12 August 1960) is a Danish rock musician and former member ...
,
Jesper Binzer, Lovebites and
Düreforsög.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleeder
1999 films
1999 crime drama films
Danish crime drama films
1990s Danish-language films
Films about domestic violence
Films directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Films set in Copenhagen
Films shot in Denmark
Scanbox Entertainment films