En Kærlighedshistorie (Kira's Reason: A Love Story) (2001)

Critic Reviews

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  Stengarde gives an arresting performance as a mentally unstable woman.

• Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

  The film never particularly achieves any depth or resonance and ultimately comes across as a series of wacky, albeit rather disturbing episodes.

• Laura Sinagra, Village Voice

  Despite Kira's Reason's chamber-drama focus, it never achieves [Madsen's] first film's intimacy.

• Stephen Holden, New York Times

  Tying up the psychological loose ends of a movie that promised so much more, the trite ending subscribes to the bogus therapeutic notion that one good cry and a confession of vulnerability can wipe away a lifetime of repression.

• Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

  An incredibly touching ride along the jilting, jarring ups-and-downs of a deeply, madly loving relationship, where two people never quit trying, and failing, together.

• MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

  [S]tunning... a sometimes painfully intimate peek at a crumbling marriage...

• Kent Turner, Film-Forward.com

  As [Kira's] actions become more impulsive and her marriage unravels, the film is engagingly unpredictable.

• Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide

  As this feature was originally recorded on digital video, the transfer on the DVD is clear and crisp.

• Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide

  Its pat finale ill-befits a film that otherwise strives successfully for stark emotional realism.

• Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

  ...Stengade's portrayal of a mad housewife is alternately arresting and repelling, the kind of work for which they ought to hand out statues.

• Kim Williamson, Boxoffice Magazine

  Had the film's center been the husband, it would have been more intriguing.

• Laine Ewen, Premiere Magazine

  Stengade, in her first leading role, is at once vulnerable and frighteningly manic.

• Maria Garcia, Film Journal International

  While Madsen and his Dogme 95 colleagues seek to overcome Hollywood's influence, Kira's Reason is an indication that they are a product of the same patriarchy.

• , E! Online

  This Danish import provides a showcase for the lead actors, especially wide-eyed Stengade, who manages sensuality amid all the emotional volatility.

• Prairie Miller, Long Island Press

  Steeped in a chaotic intensity that characterizes a fractured, disoriented mind.

• Jon Popick, Planet Sick-Boy

  The most colorful Dogme film, and the best to portray beauty, albeit damaged beauty.

• Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  [Allows] the actors to inhabit characters who are painfully contradictory, frustrating, flawed, vulnerable and bound to each other.

• Marta Barber, Miami Herald

  In Stine Stengade's intensely engaging performance, Kira is always one step away from the abyss, although, without apparent effort, she manages to hang on.

Read all 18 critic reviews