The visual style of Susanne Bier’s films

Lennard Højbjerg Hansen

doi:10.1386/jsca.7.3.253_1

The visual style of Susanne Bier’s films

Lennard Højbjerg Hansen

Institut for Kommunikation

Abstract

This article analyses four of Susanne Bier’s films with regard to audio-visual style and the role of style in relation to the presented story. Bier’s visual style in the selected films – Open Hearts (2002), Brothers (2004), After the Wedding (2006) and In a Better World (2010) – is a combination of a generally applied style that I call Dogme light and one consisting of various small montages and extreme close-ups. The Dogme light style can be traced back to the tradition of realism, and Bier has used it consistently throughout her directing career, whereas her use of small montages has varied greatly from 2002 to 2010. By combining these two stylistic tendencies, Bier has become highly regarded internationally as an art-house director, while also reaching a broader audience in Scandinavia.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Journal of Scandinavian Cinema
Vol/bind	7
Udgave nummer	3
Sider (fra-til)	253-266
Antal sider	14
ISSN	2042-7891
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1386/jsca.7.3.253_1
Status	Udgivet - 1 sep. 2017

Emneord

Det Humanistiske Fakultet
aesthetics
art-house style
Dogme light
neo-formalistic film theory
montage
segmentation

Adgang til dokumentet

10.1386/jsca.7.3.253_1

Citationsformater

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