Reconstruction, Denmark, 2003

Danish director Christopher Boe has created a nice surrealistic jewel with Reconstruction, his second film. The story is simple, but at the same time hard to follow. Two people meet at a bar, Alex and Aimée. Alex asks her to come with him on a trip to Rome. Obviously, Aimée does not know what is going on. They end up spending the night together. But the strange thing occurs next day, when Alex returns to his appartment. The door is locked, his neighbors do not recognize him, nor his friends or family. He goes to his girlfriend, Simone, and she does not know who he is. He then meets Aimée at a restaurant for lunch, and as expected, she does not recognize him at first, but she asks if she can sit with him to eat. They sort of "meet again" at this restaurant. Alex cannot understand these strange cirumstances. Both Alex and Aimée decide to escape together to Rome (are you still following the plot?) and agree to meet at a café the same day in the evening. Alex arrives late at the café, by which time Aimée has already left feeling utterly disappointed. Alex runs out to the street to look for her. He finds her, but it is already too late. A voice tells the viewer that Alex has lost Aimée forever, his only true love.

Aimée is married to August, a famous fiction writer. Throughout the movie, August is writing a story that is very similar to what is happening to Alex, and he also finds out Aimée is seeing another person, but who? Obviously we know it's Alex. So, wait a minute! Are we watching August's ficiton story, or is this really happening to Alex? Is it real or fiction? In the first scene of the movie we are reminded that it is all fiction, all reconstruction.

There are many night scenes, where only a street lamp serves as the only source of lighing. The music (mostly chords and classical pieces) adds up to a beautiful dream effect in many scenes. In fact, the musical score is a very important element in this film. It is at the end a love story between two strangers that meet in a city (Copenhague). The way the story is told, with a slight touch of surrealism, is perhaps what makes it so unique. This is definitely the best film I saw in 2004.