''Flickering Lights'' (Danish: ''Blinkende Lygter'') is a 2000 Danish

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed and written by

Anders Thomas Jensen Anders Thomas Jensen (born 6 April 1972) is a Danish screenwriter and film director. His film ''Election Night (1998 film), Election Night'' won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Life and career Jensen was born in Frederi ...

, and starring

Søren Pilmark Søren Louis Pilmark (born 16 October 1955) is a Danish actor. Pilmark has worked as a film and theatrical actor, a director, and as an author. Career Theater Pilmark graduated from the School of Acting at Aarhus Theater in 1977, where he ...

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 ...

Ulrich Thomsen Ulrich Thomsen (born 6 December 1963) is a Danish actor and filmmaker, known for his role of Kai Proctor in the Cinemax original series ''Banshee'' (2013-2016). Biography Ulrich Thomsen was born in (Næsby) Odense, Denmark and graduated from th ...

Iben Hjejle Iben Hjejle (22 March 1971) is a Danish actress, notable for starring in the Stephen Frears film '' High Fidelity'' (2000). In Denmark, she is perhaps best known for appearing in the Danish television sitcom ''Langt fra Las Vegas'' (''Far from ...

, and

Nikolaj Lie Kaas Nikolaj Lie Kaas (; born 22 May 1973) is a Danish actor whose career rose in the 1990s. Kaas graduated from the National Theater School in Denmark in 1998. He first appeared on screen in Søren Kragh-Jacobsen's film ''The Boys from St. Petri'' i ...

Plot

Four small-time gangsters from

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 ...

trick a gangster boss: they steal over 4,000,000 Danish kroner which they were supposed to bring him. Trying to escape to Barcelona they are forced to stop in the countryside, in an old, wrecked house, hiding there for several weeks. Slowly, one after another, they realize that they would like to stay there, starting a new life, renovating the house and turning it into a restaurant. But their past eventually catches up with them.

Cast

as Torkild *

as Peter *

as Arne *

as Stefan *

Sofie Gråbøl Sofie Gråbøl (; born 30 July 1968) is a Danish actress. She has starred in a number of films, with her breakthrough role in the 1986 Danish film '' Early Spring'', directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen, playing the lead role in the film version of T ...

as Hanne (Stefan's girlfriend) *

as Therese (Torkild's girlfriend) *

Ole Thestrup Ole Svane Thestrup (12 March 1948 – 2 February 2018) was a Danish actor. He appeared in many Danish films, particularly those directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, as well as television and theatre roles. He had a recurring role in the political dra ...

as Alfred (Hunter) *

Frits Helmuth Frits Helmuth (3 July 1931 – 12 December 2004) was a Danish film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1938 and 2004. He was born and died in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Osvald Helmuth and is the father of Mikael Helmuth and Pu ...

as Carl (doctor) * Peter Andersson as The Faroese *

Niels Anders Thorn Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nicolaos after Saint ...

as William *

Henning Jensen Henning Jensen (17 August 1949 – 4 December 2017) was a Danish football player who played professionally for German club Borussia Mönchengladbach, Spanish club Real Madrid and Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam where he won the domestic league champi ...

as Peters Father *

Solbjørg Højfeldt Solbjørg Højfeldt (born 10 June 1947, in Copenhagen) is a Danish actress. She has performed in more than fifty films since 1978. She is married to Danish actor Henning Jensen. Selected filmography }) , Nete , , - , 1997 , ''Taxa'' , Ev ...

as Peters Mother

Accolades

* ''

Robert Festival The Robert Award ( da, Robert prisen) is a Danish film prize awarded each year by the Danish Film Academy. It is the Danish equivalent of the American Oscars, British BAFTAs for films and Australian AACTA Awards. The award—voted only by acad ...

2001'': :Audience Award :Best Cinematography

References

External links

* * *
Flickering Lights
' at

Eurochannel Eurochannel is a world television channel focused on European culture and lifestyle through movies, series and other programs dedicated to European culture. Eurochannel broadcasts in original audio with subtitles in English, Spanish and Portugue ...

2000 films 2000 black comedy films 2000s crime comedy films Danish action comedy films Danish black comedy films Danish crime comedy films 2000s Danish-language films Films directed by Anders Thomas Jensen Films with screenplays by Anders Thomas Jensen Films set in Denmark 2000 action comedy films 2000 directorial debut films 2000 comedy films {{Denmark-film-stub