In Your Hands

The 34th and final film to be made under the Dogme ‘95 banner (can we get that in writing, please?) is happily one of the better efforts from the now jaded stable. While too many works produced under the Dogme auspices have been rightly dismissed as exercises in petulant attention-seeking, Annette K. Olesen has fashioned a proper Danish film which curtseys before Dreyer’s immortal Ordet as it unravels issues of morality and belief, refracted here through the relationship between two female leads.
Anna (Jorgensen) is a hip, newly qualified priest with a doting boyfriend (Ranthe) and fertility problems. Her first professional posting as a chaplain in a women’s prison brings her into contact with convict Kate (Dyrholm), a reformed addict with a horrible past and healing powers. Kate immediately informs Anna that she has, against the odds, fallen pregnant and the little blue plus sign on the test proves the veracity of this supernatural insight.
However, like the parson in Ordet who declares that “Miracles no longer happen”, Anna is a progressive, modern preacher who regards walking on water and such like as metaphors illustrating the power of belief. As such, Kate becomes a problematic figure. Already jealous of Kate’s direct line to higher powers, the news that Anna’s unborn baby is carrying an unpredictable chromosomal defect further tests the preacher’s faith. In this considered, morally complicated work, though, matters are not merely a question of petitions and prayers.
Despite the setting, In Your Hands extends its cinematic ‘vow of chastity’ to rule out the hot girl-on-girl action which usually defines the women in prison film. While the grimly lit institution adds to the powerful emotionality, the film is so compellingly performed and written, it has little need of the Dogme tag or trappings. Still, in common with early Lars von Trier efforts, such as The Kingdom and Breaking The Waves, Ms. Olesen utilises the familiar and jagged Dogme tropes (you know the drill – natural lighting, handheld camera, no props) as realistic counterweight for her exploration of the miraculous to fantastic and jarring effect.
It’s a fittingly cerebral and ambiguous note for this Great European Cinematic Experiment to end on.

Running Time 101mins. Cert IFI members. Opens June 3rd