A Fortunate Man is a 2018 Danish drama about an ambitious young man from a devout Christian family in Western Denmark, who travels to the Danish capital of Copenhagen to study engineering.
Comedian Milton Berle once said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” I know that might seem a strange start to a Danish film about engineering, but at its heart is that very sentiment where a young man works to make his own way by any clever means possible. Director Bille August‘s latest, epic film is a lush and gloriously-realized venture that takes aim at the class system and unbridled hubris, where one’s grand vision blurs the larger picture in seeing it done. A Fortunate Man makes for a patient experience, its near three-hour length perhaps a hurdle for some, but nonetheless one well worth a watch.
In the late 1800s, Peter Sedenius (Esben Smed) has grown up in Denmark, son to a deeply pious and celebrated clergyman, (Anders Hove), who is heartbroken Peter is leaving and abandoning his Christian faith for a life in Copenhagen as an engineering student. Peter has long felt distant from his father, his abuses and neglect pushing him to new horizons, where he has ideas to bring his home country into the future. Living in near squalor in an attic apartment, Peter enrolls in university as he works to design a system of windmills and canals to spread energy across the land. He soon manipulates things to befriend men of wealth and influence who see potential in the young engineer, the daughter of one such figure, Jakobe (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal) catching his eye. Now, as pride and upbringing remain hurdles, Peter wonders if indeed he is, as some call him, a fortunate man.
As a period piece, A Fortunate Man (Danish: Lykke-Per), is a delicious slice of international delight with Copenhagen standing in for its older self, redressed as it was a century prior as we travel along cobblestone roads and explore historic estates. Within these borders lie the elite of the city, the Salomon Family of Jewish descent and of great wealth, their two of-age daughters a prize many suitors tend to, Peter first drawn to the artistically-inclined Nanny (Julie Christiansen), who falls for him, before “changing lanes” as their father notes, toward Jakobe, a woman already engaged to another, even as she weakens.
This creates some tension as Peter struggles to make his energy plan come to fruition, his youth and uncultured past leaving him – in the eyes of those who make decisions – unfit for such a project. All of this fills the first hour, which put most films on the home stretch, but not A Fortunate Man, as it builds and builds upon its generally simple themes to craft a richly detailed odyssey of faith, love, betrayal, vanity, and regret. At times, it reaches for immersion on the same scale of Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather, drawing us into the trappings of high society and the consequences of rebellion. It’s grand stuff.
A Fortunate Man is entirely in Danish, and while Netflix, where it currently is streaming, does have a high-quality English dubbing option, it really should be avoided. Stick to the subtitles and let the native language breathe proper into the performances. This is especially recommended as much of the dialogue is precisely targeted for their ability to cut deep and hearing it in Danish gives each word that much impact. Either way, while certainly three hours is a long sit, so few films these days challenge audiences to become invested beyond the copious action so plentiful in modern movies. I suspect, right from the powerfully-emotive opening moments, A Fortunate Man will take hold and keep you deeply entangled in where it will go, to a tragic and sentimental end.