It took me a few days to process the movie Copenhagen, which took home the Director’s Choice Award for Best Feature – Drama from the Sedona International Film Festival. The movie held my interest and piqued my curiosity but left me feeling a little dirty.

It tells its story from the perspective of 20-something American tourist William. After a buddy trip to Europe is sabotaged by his friend’s manipulative girlfriend, he finds himself in the Danish capital alone and angry.

There is only one thing on his “to-do” list – find his grandfather, about whom he knows nothing, and deliver a letter from his late father. It’s not a done deal, either. All he has is a very old address.

Played by British actor Gethin Anthony (Game of Thrones), William is not looking forward to this errand. For him, the trip always was about getting laid. He is a good-looking guy and has game in clubs and hostels, places full of young women looking for fun, but everywhere else he is an ugly American.

While he is stewing in the hotel lobby, he spies an attractive blonde girl walking outside. The next morning, she winds up being his waitress in the hotel café. Things get messy when she spills coffee on the envelope, blurring the address. He berates her until she says she got a look at the address and remembers it. Suddenly, he needs her help, but it’s hard for him to shift gears from nasty to nice.

He pays the price, as Effy (20-year-old Copenhagen native Frederikke Dahl Hansen) sends him on a wild goose chase around town. Later that day, he finds her hanging out near the hotel and confronts her. A bit sheepish, she says she’ll take him to the correct address. She hops on her bike and motions toward Copenhagen’s version of New York’s Citi Bikes. With a grumble about socialism, William checks out a bike and they’re on their way.

Other 2015 Sedona IFF reviews

• ‘The Yank’ Lampoons Ethnic Self-Stereotypes
• Musical ‘Lucky Stiff’ Belongs on Stage
• Music Can’t Save Falling ‘O-Star’

When they reach the address, they find not William’s grandfather but the man’s brother – William’s great uncle.

It’s not a happy homecoming. Uncle Peter is hospitable enough but, through a translator, tells William that his grandfather was a terrible man – a Nazi collaborator who was imprisoned after the war and later disappeared. His wife, shunned in Danish society, had waited out his prison term but emigrated to America with her young son when he didn’t return home.

The uncle gives William some black-and-white photos of his father as a boy. Over the next couple of days, Effy leads William to the places where the photos were taken, snapping pictures of him striking the same poses as his father. Over the course of the visits, we find out that William’s father had abandoned his family when William was a boy.

The Baby Elephant in the Room

How does Effy find so much time for William? She describes her hotel job as a sort of internship, part of her school’s curriculum. He assumes – or at least tells himself – that she is a college student, yet he doesn’t try to bed her instantly as he has every other nubile woman since we met him.

Despite her frequent claims that she needs to get home, she never actually goes. One starts to get a creepy feeling. Is she hiding from a hellish home life? Does she even have a home? (She never seems to change clothes.) She does make a vaguely negative reference to her mother’s boyfriend; is he forcing himself on her or pimping her out?

Effy appears to have constructed an elaborate fantasy life. Early on, she claims to be hundreds of years old. Later, she takes William to a museum and shows him how she is a near twin of a woman memorialized in a marble bust. William closes his eyes and simultaneously feels the statue with his left hand and Effy with his right – as though he is weighing both fantasy Effy and real Effy.

William compares the feel of Effy (right) and a museum bust that resembles her in “Copenhagen.”

Eventually, she reveals that she’s only 14 years old. That’s when things get really creepy, because by this time moviegoers have become invested in their developing relationship. Like William, one wants them together despite knowing that it’s impossible. But it takes time to get past the denial stage, during which their mutual sexual attraction goes from romantic to disturbing.

Confronting Reality

Around this time, the voice of reason arrives when William’s erstwhile travel buddy, Jeremy (Sebastian Armesto), returns to Copenhagen, having  been dumped by the girlfriend in London.

In fairness to William, Effy comes across as more mature than Jeremy’s age-appropriate woman. But the attention Effy gives to Jeremy makes William jealous, leading to an argument during which Jeremy learns the truth about Effy and calls them out.

To William: “Nobody likes you. You connect with teenagers.”

To Effy: “He’s that stranger you’re not supposed to talk to.”

When the men start to scuffle, Effy flees. Jeremy storms off, leaving William alone once again.

After a couple of pathetic conversations with Effy’s voicemail, William heads out to a nightclub, where the film takes on a shadowy, race-against-the-night quality. He’s about to score a threesome with two American girls – a home run for pre-Copenhagen William – when Effy turns up, having finally listened to his messages. He walks away from the Americans to focus on Effy. Is this a sign of progress for William?

Some of the club staff greet Effy with familiarity, raising more questions about her lifestyle now that we know her age. Another man at the bar recognizes her and drags her out. William pursues and forces the man to let her go. As they flee, Effy tells William it was her mother’s boyfriend.

A brief stop at Effy’s home to get her laptop reveals little, though the darkened apartment certainly doesn’t convey a happy home life. Effy’s mom emerges when her boyfriend arrives, but they are too focused on each other to notice Effy and William sneaking out.

By this point, William and Effy have admitted their romantic feelings for each other. Back in his hotel room, they begin to act on their hormones.

With a normal movie romance, the audience usually roots for the couple to … couple. But given the characters’ ages, we are left to squirm as they start disrobing. Will they ignore the elephant in the room and consummate their fantasy relationship? Or will William acknowledge that, as the movie’s website puts it: “When the girl of your dreams is half your age, it’s time to grow up.”

There are two epilogues to Copenhagen, both of which take place in the light of day. William makes a final effort to locate his grandfather and learn why the males in his family are so screwed up. We see Effy, looking and behaving very much like a teenager, waiting in class to present a report including photos she took of William – and curling up with her mother on a couch at home.

In addition to being honored in Sedona, Copenhagen won the Audience Award at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival and a Grand Jury Award at the 2014 Florida Film Festival.

One can view a trailer or purchase Copenhagen via the film’s official website.

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Stu Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

Tags: Copenhagen, Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Game of Thrones, Gethin Anthony, Sebastian Armesto