Thomas Vinterberg directs Mads Mikkelsen in drinking movie

Mads Mikkelsen in "Drunk" by Thomas Vinterberg -

• In "Drunk", a group of high school teachers dabble in conscientiousness to try an experiment.

• Mads Mikkelsen lifts his elbow in this tragicomedy for which he finds the director of "The Hunt".

• First presented as an ode to drunkenness, the film does not hide the devastating effects that alcohol can have.

Thomas Vinterberg has a very special sense of celebration.

And little respect for social distancing and barrier gestures in this period of Covid-19.

Already in

(1998) which is released in theaters this Wednesday, the Danish director filmed a family reunion interrupted by the revelation of a family secret and ending in a pitched battle! 

, his new film labeled Cannes 2020, proves that he has not calmed down, far from it.

This time he leads a group of friends among whom we recognize Mads Mikkelsen whom he had directed for

, Magnus Millang and Thomas Bo Larsen, in a truly mind-boggling drinking festival.

These aging gentlemen hope to regain the energy of their 20 years thanks to the bottle and are obviously totally wrong.

“I wanted to make a film where the drink would be on the front of my stage, a bit like a character,” Thomas Vinterberg confides to

.

Our articles on Mads Mikkelsen are here

Scientific drinking

The heroes, bad-tempered high school teachers, decide to test psychologist Finn Skarderud's theory, claiming that men are born with a deficiency of alcohol in their blood.

Anxious to fill it, they challenge themselves to booze like holes.

The spectator can follow the evolution of their blood alcohol level thanks to subheadings because these good people, who are not there to laugh, raise their elbow in a scientific way.

“ 

is thought of as a tribute to life,” insists the director.

And the joy with which his heroes embark on the adventure is communicative.

For a little bit, it looks like we would be launching the same challenge as them, once the screening is over.

Euphoric drinking

Because it starts off pretty well for alcoholic guinea pigs.

The history teacher played by Mads Mikkelsen makes his students vibrate again and tells them about the great men (Hemingway, Churchill) who are fans of the picole, while his colleague advises a kid panicked by the exams to have a drink to loosen.

“We all know the feeling of the expanding space, the growing conversation, and the issues that disappear as we drink alcohol,” says Thomas Vinterberg.

A series of vignettes showing politicians - from Nicolas Sarkozy to Bill Clinton - apparently soaked confirm that alcohol can be funny.

What make you want to pour a little pick-me-up to toast with friends.

The tragic drinking bout

Alas, as in

, the party turns sour when the friends can not control their actions.

Hangovers are painful for those men who have tried to escape their depression.

“If the film is a form of celebration of drunkenness, it is obviously also a lucid portrait of its devastating effects.

Excess alcohol kills and destroys lives, ”insists Thomas Vinterberg.

Between the one who pees in the marital bed and the one who will not get up after the experience, the consequences range from tragicomic to tragic itself.

Is it to exorcise the death of his daughter who disappeared in an accident in May 2019 that Thomas Vinterbeg signs this joyfully desperate work?

We come out with the bitterness of the aftermath of a party, the head upside down and the broken heart.

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