Tree of Knowledge (film)

Tree of Knowledge (Danish: Kundskabens træ) is a 1981 Danish coming-of-age drama directed by Nils Malmros. The film details the lives of 17 teenage schoolmates in 1950s Denmark. Shooting on location at the high school which he had attended, Malmros took two years to film the action, so the cast members reflected the real-life physical and emotional development of their characters.[1]

Tree of Knowledge
Front cover of the Danish DVD for
Tree of Knowledge
Directed byNils Malmros
Written byNils Malmros
Frederick Cryer
Produced byPer Holst
StarringEva Gram Schjoldager
Jan Johansen
Line Arlien-Søborg
CinematographyJan Weincke
Edited byMerete Brusendorff
Janus Billeskov Jansen
Music byPer Hillers Danseorkester
Saratoga Jazzband
Distributed byKærne Film
Release date
  • 13 November 1981 (1981-11-13)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryDenmark
LanguageDanish

Despite critical praise, Tree of Knowledge received only two awards: the Danish Film Critics Bodil Award for Jan Weincke's cinematography,[2] and the Audience Award at the Lübeck Nordic Film Festival. Tree of Knowledge is one of the top 100 Danish films listed by the Danish Film Institute and is one of ten films listed in the cultural canon of Denmark by the Danish Ministry of Culture.[3]

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival[4] and was selected as the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[5]

Cast
ActorRole
Eva Gram SchjoldagerElin
Jan JohansenNiels-Ole
Line Arlien-SøborgAnne-Mette
Marian WendelboElisabeth
Gitte Iben AndersenLene
Brian TheibelWilly Bonde
Erno MüllerClass teacher
Merete VolstedlundAnne-Mette's mother
Karin FlensborgElin's mother
Knud AndreasenElin's father
Lone ElliotMaj-Britt
Astrid Holm NielsenIna
Bo von der LippeJørn
Morten NautrupFlemming
Martin Lysholm JepsenHelge
Anders ØrgårdGert
Dan Rørmand BrøggerTorkild
Lars Spang KjeldsenSøren Roland
Nikolaj FlensborgKaj
Hanne SørensenMona
Anne-Mette Brinch AndersenGås
Anne-Mette Kjøller WarloJoan
Malene DarreLoppe
Lars Hjort FrederiksenCarsten
Karen MøllerMrs. Andreasen
Jørgen NygaardPastor
Arne RinggaardDance teacher
Thorkild TromholtPianist
Rikke MalmrosGym teacher
Uffe BakGym teacher
Norma NissenMrs Scheel
Svend Schmidt-NielsenPark ranger
Per CortesMusic teacher
Birgit Rafman
Margit Due
Christian Svendsen
Jeanette Hede
Jørg Bjerre Andersen

Production

When Nils Malmros called Gitte Iben Andersen and told her that she had become the chosen one to play Lene, she noticed that there was also a nudity scene. She was therefore refusing, but nevertheless said yes, when the film director added in a slight way that all other girls had said yes, without knowing that he had used the same trick towards the other girls.[6]

Reception

Film Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote "The Tree of Knowledge is the truest and most moving film I have ever seen about the experience of puberty... a creative act of memory about exactly what it was like to be 13 in 1953."[7]

See also

References
  1. "Kundskabens Træ". Archived from the original on 16 November 2008.
  2. Kosmorama. Danske Filmmuseum. 1997. p. 192. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  3. "Kulturkanon". Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  4. "Festival de Cannes: Tree of Knowledge". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
  5. Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  6. "Gitte Iben Andersen". danskefilm.dk. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  7. Roger Ebert /Chicago Sun-Times, 1 December 1982.
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