A Fortunate Man (2018)

A Fortunate Man is the English title of a Danish historical drama which premiered in 2018. It is a coming of age story in which we follow the main character (Per) from the time when he is a young man of 16 until he is around 50. The story is set in Denmark in the second half of the 19th century. Here is some basic information about this drama:

** Original Danish title: Lykke Per 
** Director: Bille August

** Writers: Bille August and Anders August

** Based on a famous multi-volume novel written by Henrik Pontoppidan and first published 1898-1904

** Language: Danish

** Run time: 170 m or 220 m (see more below)

THE CAST

The cast includes the following:

** Esben Smed as Peter Sidenius aka Per the Fortunate Man
** Sophie-Marie Jeppesen as Lisbeth (a waitress)

** Sara Viktoria Bjerregaard Christensen as Inger (daughter of a priest)

The Salomon family:

** Tommy Kenter as Phillip Salomon (father)
** Katrine Greis-Rosenthal as Jakobe Salomon (older daughter)

** Julie Christensen as Nanny Salomon (younger daughter)

** Benjamin Kitter as Ivan Salomon (son)

RUN TIME

There are two versions of this drama:

(1) The long version
(2) The short version

Let me explain:

(1) A miniseries in four parts, which was shown on Scandinavian television. Each episode runs for ca. 55 minutes. Total run time is ca. 220 minutes. This version is not available on DVD.

(2) A movie version which has been edited and shortened. It runs for almost three hours (ca. 170 minutes). Compared to the miniseries, ca. 50 minutes have been eliminated. The movie version is the one that is on the DVD.

TIME FRAME

As stated above, this is a historical drama, i.e. a fictional story that is placed in a historical context. In this case the context is Denmark in the second part of the 19th century.

The time frame is never made explicit. I think this is deliberate, but it seems to be somewhere between 1850 and 1900. The main character (Per) is born around 1850. Therefore he is 16 in 1866. And in the year 1900 he is ca. 50.

THE PLOT

The story is set in Denmark, sometimes we are in the capital Copenhagen in the east and sometimes we are in the peninsula Jutland (Jylland) in the west. The language spoken is Danish. However, there is one exception: a few scenes are set in Austria where the language is German.

The main character Peter Sidenius is born and raised in Jutland. His father is a priest, but the son wants to be an engineer. At the age of 16 he leaves his family and travels to Copenhagen where he is going to be a student at the Technical Academy. In this drama we follow his life and career from the time when he is a young man of 16 until he is ca. 50.

In Copenhagen, he changes his first name Peter to Per. Why? Sometimes he is a lucky man and therefore he is known as “Per, the Fortunate Man.” In Danish this is “Lykke Per” which is the Danish title of the novel and the historical drama.

I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore I will say as little as possible about what happens to Per and the people around him. But I have to mention a few details in order to explain my rating.

SEVERAL FLAWS

What do reviewers say about this drama? On IMDb it has a rating of 72 per cent. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 80 per cent. If you ask me, both these ratings are too high. Why? Because this drama has several flaws. Let me explain:

# 1. Per has some drawings which show his ambition to build canals and windmills in order to transform Denmark from an agricultural society to a modern industrial nation. He made these drawings while he was still living in the province. He shows them to people in Copenhagen because he wants to find some support for his radical ideas.

Every time these drawings are shown, it is clear that they are not some simple sketches made by an amateur. They are made by a professional architect or a professional engineer. How can he have such drawings? Where did he get the tools and the knowledge to create such drawings while he was a teenager in the province? This fact is never explained.

# 2. Per comes to Copenhagen to study to be an engineer. But we never see him study, and there is only one brief scene where we see him attending a lecture at the Academy.

Does he ever complete his studies? Does he ever graduate from the Academy? Maybe, but we never see this happen and we never hear anything about it. Becoming an engineer was his major goal in life, but we never see him reach this goal. Why not? This fact is rather odd.

# 3. One character (Lisbeth, his first girlfriend) is introduced and we see her for a while, but then all of a sudden she disappears without any explanation. This fact is rather odd.

# 4. Towards the end of the drama we see Per as a mature man in Jutland. And there is a surprise: he has a wife (Inger) and three young children. The viewer must ask: how did this happen? There is no information about the beginning of this marriage. This fact is rather odd.

# 5. The dialogue is in Danish. The script and the actors try to use an old style language in order to imitate the language that was spoken in the 19th century. While I appreciate this ambition, I have to say it is not quite successful.

In many cases the language is stilted. It does not sound natural. It does not flow well. The lines often sound like they are written and not spoken.

I guess only a native Danish speaker will notice this detail. A foreigner who does not know any Danish will simply read the English subtitles and not notice that there is a problem here.

# 6. The main character is not very charming. In fact, the first time he is invited into the home of the rich Salomon family, several characters criticize him for having bad manners. He is not rich. At first, he is a poor student. Later, he is a poor engineer. Given this fact, it is hard to understand why he is desired and wanted by several women.

CONCLUSION

As you can see there are several flaws which cannot be ignored; which cannot be overlooked. This drama is not great. It is not even good. It is simply average. And therefore it cannot get more than three stars.

*****



The Danish author Henrik Pontoppidan 

(1857-1943)

*****