Jane Sloan Media Librarian jsloan@rci.rutgers.edu August 2006

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Media Collections:
Feature Films Northern Europe

This guide is a browsing aid to selected titles in the video/DVD collections at Rutgers Libraries. The most up-to-date, accurate, and complete information regarding the libraries' holdings is available only through IRIS, our online catalog.

Antonia Antonia's line 1996

A portrait of a Dutch family and a community, of mothers and daughters, and of one indomitable woman who must start a new life following the second World War.

1 videocassette (102 min.) :

MEDIA DANA 2-3417 226

Babette's gæstebud Babette's feast 1999

With the mysterious arrival of Babette, a refugee from France's civil war, life for two pious sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change. Before long, Babette has convinced them to try something other than boiled codfish and ale bread-- a gourmet French meal! Her feast scandalizes the elders, except for the visiting General. Just who is this strangely talented Babette, who has terrified this pious town with the prospect of losing their souls for enjoying too much earthly pleasure?

1 videocassette (103 min.) :

DANA. MEDIA 1291 2-3962

Breaking the waves 1997

Bess gets married -- Life with Jan -- Life alone -- Jan's illness -- Doubt -- Faith -- Bess' sacrifice -- Epilogue: the funeralWhen Bess, a naive young woman, marries Jan, a handsome oil-rig worker, she experiences passion and physical pleasure that she never imagined. Their bliss is cut short when an accident on the rig leaves Jan paralyzed. Believing that he will never make love to Bess again, he tells her to take other lovers, convincing her that this will help his recovery.

1 videocassette (159 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5054

Day of wrath 198-

Set in the seventeenth century and made during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, the film tells a story of witchcraft, fear, sin, and repression. It deals with the subjects of guilt, innocence, and a society in which everyone is considered guilty.

1 videocassette (VHS) (110 min.) :

MEDIA 2-359

De Stilte rond Christine M A question of silence 199

A female psychiatrist is appointed by a judge to evaluate three women who, strangers to each other, have each confessed to the murder of the same man. Their rage toward and hatred of their male-dominated society is gradually understood by the psychiatrist, who begins to question her own nature.

1 videocassette (ca. 97 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2659

Edvard Munch 1994

This film mixes fact and fiction to tell the story of Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch, an important figure in modern art. All the dialog attributed to Munch in the film is taken from his diaries.

1 videocassette (167 min.) :

DANA 1693

Fanny and Alexander 1984

Set in a rural Swedish town in 1907, the film tells the story of one year in the lives of the Ekdahl family, focussing on the young children, Fanny and Alexander.

2 videocassettes (VHS) (195 min.) :

MEDIA. MEDIA 2-353 cassette 1 2-354 cassette 2

Good evening Mr. Wallenberg 1994

Raoul Wallenberg moved from Sweden to Budapest in late 1944 to help protect Jews from Adolph Eichmann's Sonderkommando.

1 videocassette (115 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2446

Hamsun 1996

Knut Hamsun, Norway's most beloved author, supported Hitler during World War II and was regarded as a traitor after the war. Although Hamsun believed it was his destiny to rescue his country from the ravages of a World War, he and his wife Marie face the angry wrath of a betrayed nation and the private drama of their turbulent relationship.

1 videocassette (152 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3666

Ingmar Bergman's The magic flute Trollflöjten 1975

Prince Tamino must overcome the evil power of the Queen of the Night before the ruler of the Kingdom of Light will award him the hand of the beautiful Pamina.

1 videocassette (134 min.) :

DANA 916

Italiensk for begyndere 2002?

Several Danish students of an Italian language class find romance in their studies of the language of love.

1 videodisc (112 min.)

MEDIA 10-435

Kristin Lavransdatter 1998

Epic love story set in 14th century Norway. Follows one woman's desire to break with tradition to marry the handsome knight she loves rather than the neighboring landowner's son her father has chosen for her. Further complications arise in the person of the knight's longtime mistress, with whom he's had several children.

1 videocassette (144 min.) :

MEDIA 2-3926

Mifunes siste sang 2000

A young business must return home to the farm when his father dies, to find someone to take care of the farm and his retarded brother.

1 videodisc (102 min.)

MEDIA 10-437

Nära livet Brink of life 1983

Set in a maternity ward and taking place in one 24-hour period, this drama focuses on three women. One has a miscarriage, one loses her baby at childbirth, and the third at first wants to have an abortion. Winner of the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

1 videorecording (82 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2652

Pauline & Paulette 2002

Mentally-challenged Pauline is obsessed with pretty flowers and her glamorous sister Paulette. When Pauline's caretaker-sister Martha dies suddenly, Pauline has to move in with her sister Paulette, and proceeds to interfere with the day-to-day running of Paulette's lingerie shop and her double life as an opera singer.

1 videodisc (75 min.) :

MEDIA 10-140

Pelle the conqueror Pelle Erobreren 1988

A poor widower and his son Pelle leave Sweden and set off on a sailing ship bound for Denmark where they hope to find a better life.

1 videocassette (138 min.) :

DANA 328

Scener ur ett äktenskap Scenes from a marriage 1974

Chronicles the break up of a marriage and the ten years of turmoil and love that bind the couple despite their divorce and subsequent marriages.

1 videocassette (170 min.) :

DANA 884

The Seventh seal 198-

A knight and his squire returen from their crusades to a plauge-stricken Sweden. The knight is greeted by a personified Death who forces the knight to fight for his life by playing a game of chess. As the game progresses, the knight travels through Sweden, seeking the meaning of life and death.

1 videocassette (96 min.) :

MEDIA DANA 2-126 486

The Shame Skammen 199

Two married concert violinists are morally challenged when a war they hoped to escape rages across their island refuge.

1 videocassette (103 min.) :

DANA 538

The Silence 199

Two sisters locked together in a love-hate relationship stay temporarily in a remote, oppressive village whose inhabitants speak an incomprehensible language. For the sisters, communication deteriorates to sign language with the townspeople. While one sister slowly slips into death, the other engages a local barman in a frenzied, sexual encounter.

1 videocassette (95 min.) :

DANA 325

The silence 199

A forceful narrative of two sisters; one is a frustrated lesbian with no future, the other a free-loving mother of a 10-year old boy.

1 videocassette (95 min.)

MEDIA 2-6809

Sofie 1994

Sofie is the only daughter of a late 19th century Jewish family in Denmark who finds herself bound to traditions that clash with the temptations of her heart.

1 videocassette (ca. 145 min.) :

MEDIA 2-2656

Vargtimmen Hour of the wolf 1993

A brooding artist, haunted by darkness and the creatures of his imagination, moves to a remote island with his wife in hopes of escaping his demons. Once he discovers that the demons are within and there is no escape, however, the film chronicles his descent into total madness.

1 videocassette (ca. 88 min.) :

DANA 323

The virgin spring 1995

A devout girl is raped and murdered by herders on her way to church. When her attackers seek shelter at her home, their crime is discovered and a bloody vengeance exacted. Based on a 14th century Swedish legend.

1 videocassette (88 min.) :

MEDIA 2-5567