The Hunt (2012 film)


The Hunt is a 2012 Danish drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen. The story is set in a small Danish village around Christmas, and follows a man who becomes the target of mass hysteria after being wrongly accused of sexually abusing a child in his kindergarten class.
The film was screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and competed at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival where Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award for his role. It also won the 2013 Nordic Council Film Prize. The film was selected as the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, making the final nomination. It was nominated in the same category at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards.

Plot

After budget cuts cost him his job as a high school teacher, Lucas takes a job as a preschool teacher in the close-knit Danish community where he grew up. He is divorced and struggles to maintain a relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. Marcus lives with Lucas' ex-wife, but he eventually decides to move in with Lucas. Nadja, a Russian emigrant and another teacher at the preschool, makes advances on Lucas and eventually becomes his girlfriend.
One of Lucas' students is a five-year-old girl named Klara, the daughter of his best friend, Theo. She has an innocent crush on Lucas, who treats her kindly, whereas her parents constantly argue; he also lets her walk his dog, Fanny. One day, Klara puts a heart-shaped ornament into his coat pocket, then gives him a kiss on the lips. After Lucas admonishes her, Klara's feelings are hurt. Drawing on a memory of a pornographic photo her older teenage brother and his friend showed her, she makes comments describing an erect penis; this leads Grethe, the preschool director, to believe Lucas exposed himself to Klara. Grethe brings in a psychologist who asks Klara leading questions about what occurred; Klara gives unclear responses about Lucas, alternately denying and confirming the abuse.
Grethe doesn't believe that a child would lie about such a serious matter. She informs the other parents that Klara was likely abused; she also advises them to look for signs of sexual abuse in their own children. The parents ask leading questions of their children, who also say they were abused, thereby destroying any public doubt about Klara's story. Lucas is fired, and the community quickly shuns him, labeling him as a paedophile.
Lucas tries to get some answers out of Grethe, but she is still convinced that the children are telling the truth. Johan, one of Lucas' drinking buddies, leads Lucas away and orders him to go home.
Lucas shows up to Theo's house and suggests that the two of them discuss the issue with Grethe before things get worse. However, Theo insists that his daughter has never once lied, and he says he isn't sure whom to believe. Theo's wife, Agnes, on the other hand, is certain that Lucas is guilty; she becomes enraged and throws him out, refusing to listen to his protests. As Lucas is leaving, Theo grabs him, pins him against the wall, and threatens to kill him if the accusations turn out to be true. After Lucas has left, Klara tries to tell her mother that he didn't do anything, but Agnes merely believes that Klara is in denial.
Lucas' friendship with Theo is subsequently destroyed. His relationship with Nadja is likewise ruined when she expresses uncertainty at his innocence, causing him to angrily throw her out of the house. Marcus, who arrives to move in with Lucas, becomes ostracised by association, and he is told by a grocery employee that neither he nor his father are welcome to shop there anymore. Lucas survives only with the financial support of his close friend Bruun—whose father is extremely wealthy—and of a few friends who still believe him.
Lucas is arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. However, the children's accounts all involve Lucas abusing them in his basement, which supports Lucas' innocence as his house has no basement. After a hearing, Lucas is released without charge, and he celebrates with Marcus and Bruun.
Despite the ruling, the community still believes Lucas is guilty, and the ostracism turns into violence. Lucas' dog is killed, and a large stone is thrown through his kitchen window. Marcus decides to take matters into his own hands and visits Theo, who lets him enter his house as Marcus is friends with Klara's teenage brother. In front of the other half of Lucas' and Theo's group of friends, who have sided with Theo, Marcus accuses Klara of lying and spits at her, and is promptly attacked. He is only spared serious injury by Theo, who intervenes and tells Marcus to leave. Deciding that the situation is too dangerous, Lucas sends Marcus away to live with his mother. Without his son as an in-between, Lucas is forced to go grocery shopping himself, and when a butcher at the grocery store viciously assaults him, Lucas retaliates by breaking his nose.
On Christmas Eve, Lucas reaches his breaking point; he angrily confronts, then beats Theo in front of everyone during a church service, telling him and the rest of the town to leave him alone. That night, Klara, mistaking her father for Lucas, apologizes to him as she drifts off to sleep. She insists that she didn't want things to turn out this way and that Lucas did nothing wrong. Realizing Lucas' innocence, Theo later visits him with food and alcohol as a peace offering.
A year later, tensions in the community have simmered down, and everyone seems to have welcomed Lucas back in. Lucas and Nadja rekindle their relationship, and Marcus is accepted into the local hunting society as an adult. On a hunting expedition to commemorate the event, someone apparently shoots at Lucas with a rifle and barely misses. Blinded by the setting sun, Lucas is unable to identify his attacker. A moment later the unknown shooter disappears into the forest.

Cast

The film was produced by Zentropa for 20 million Danish kroner. It received co-production support from Sweden's Film i Väst and Zentropa International Sweden. Further support came from the Danish Film Institute, DR, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Swedish Film Institute, Sveriges Television and the MEDIA Programme.

Reception

Box office

The Hunt premiered on 20 May 2012 at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, as the first Danish-language film in the main competition since 1998. Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award at Cannes. Given its estimated $3.8 million budget, the film was a financial success; in total, it earned more than $16 million including $7.9 million in Denmark. In the United States, it was shown in 47 theaters and earned $613,308.

Critical response

The film received universal acclaim. It has an approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 133 reviews, with an average rating of 7.83/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Anchored by Mads Mikkelsen's sympathetic performance, The Hunt asks difficult questions with the courage to pursue answers head on." The film also has a score of 77 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipientResult
Academy Awards2 March 2014Best Foreign Language Film
Alliance of Women Film Journalists19 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmThomas Vinterberg
British Academy Film Awards10 February 2013Best Film not in the English Language
British Independent Film Awards9 December 2012Best Foreign Independent FilmThomas Vinterberg
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Danish Film
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActorThomas Bo Larsen
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActorLars Ranthe
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActressAnne Louise Hassing
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActressSusse Wold
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best CinematographyCharlotte Bruus Christensen
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Prize of the Ecumenical JuryThomas Vinterberg
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Vulcan AwardCharlotte Bruus Christensen
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Palme d'OrThomas Vinterberg
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards16 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
Critics' Choice Awards16 January 2014Best Foreign Language Film
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association16 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
Satellite Awards23 February 2014Best Foreign Language Film
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best FilmThomas Vinterberg
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best DirectorThomas Vinterberg
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best ScreenwriterThomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best EditorJanus Billeskov Jansen, Anne Østerud
Golden Globe Awards12 January 2014Best Foreign Language Film
Independent Spirit Awards1 March 2014Best Foreign Film
International Online Film Critics' Poll26 January 2015Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
London Film Critics Circle Awards20 January 2013Actor of the YearMads Mikkelsen
National Board of Review Awards4 December 2013Top Foreign Films
Nordic Council Film Prize30 October 2013Nordic Council Film PrizeThomas Vinterberg
Online Film Critics Society Awards16 December 2013Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Danish FilmThomas Vinterberg
Robert Award27 January 2014Best DirectorThomas Vinterberg
Robert Award27 January 2014Best ScreenplayThomas Vinterberg,Tobias Lindholm
Robert Award27 January 2014Best ActorMads Mikkelsen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Supporting ActorThomas Bo Larsen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Supporting ActressSusse Wold
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Supporting ActressAnne Louise Hassing
Robert Award27 January 2014Best CinematographyCharlotte Bruus Christensen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best EditorAnne Østerud, Janus Billeskov Jansen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Production DesignTorben Stig Nielsen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Costume DesignManon Rasmussen
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Make-UpBjørg Serup
Robert Award27 January 2014Best Original ScoreNikolaj Egelund
Robert Award27 January 2014Best SoundKristian Eidnes Andersen, Thomas Jæger
Robert Award27 January 2014Audience Award - Best DramaThomas Vinterberg
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards16 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards11 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
Toronto Film Critics Association16 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
Vancouver International Film Festival12 October 2012Rogers People's Choice AwardThomas Vinterberg
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards9 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film

Home media

released it in Denmark on 10 January 2013. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 7 May 2013.