Henning Moritzen could suggest trouble beneath a respectable appearance. We rate his work in The Celebration highly: he makes the father formidable without turning each response into an explanation of the man.
Fi1m perspective
In The Celebration (1998), Henning Moritzen makes the father formidable without insisting that we notice each response. He can hold his place in this family birthday gathering without competing for the most conspicuous display of feeling. We felt uneasy watching him, because his contained responses make the father's authority felt even when he is doing little. It is a performance worth watching closely, even when other members of the family are making that difficult.
The light-comedy and romantic leads of his 1950s and 1960s screen work, including Forelsket i København (1960), belong to an earlier, more agreeable image. Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (1972), in which he played Joakim, brought him international exposure. The later dramatic parts included Borge in Dansen med Regitze (1989). His early reputation for charm and niceness could be limiting. Later roles gave him more to do with that respectable appearance, including the suggestion of menace beneath it.
Thomas Vinterberg makes particularly good use of him in The Celebration by leaving room for the cast to contain themselves. Beside Moritzen, Ulrich Thomsen plays Christian with a hesitancy that makes us conscious of the effort involved in speaking. Thomas Bo Larsen's Michael provides the more volatile energy. Moritzen does not need to match either performance, and the differences keep this family from seeming to have rehearsed its crisis.
His steadiness is especially welcome because the film's camera can be rather too restless for the actors' work. There are stretches when we would rather it settled down and let us watch them. Yet the three actors give us enough to care about that the distractions rarely get the better of the performances. We recommend The Celebration for Moritzen, though not as a means of improving the mood after a difficult family dinner.
Biography
Henning Moritzen (3 August 1928 – 11 August 2012) was a Danish actor. He appeared in more than 70 films between 1950 and 2010, as well as numerous stage productions.
He trained at Privatteatrenes Elevskole and worked extensively in Danish theatre, including at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. His film roles include Joakim in Cries and Whispers (1972), Faderen in The Celebration (1998), and Niels Frederiks Sieger in Headhunter (2009).
