The Kiss

A kiss gains central and decisive importance in Danish master-director Bille August’s drama abot a young man who gets entangled in a web of promises, lies, and moral duties.

The year is 1913 and there are rumours of war in Erope. Anton (Esben Smed) is a young man eager to cleanse the family name from the dishonour his father left behind when he abandoned them. Now he wants to prove himself by becoming a cavalry officer. During an exercise he helps an aging lord (Lars Mikkelsen) and is invited home to his residence where he meets his daughter Edith (Clara Rosager), who is bound to a wheelchair as the result of a fateful accident. Anton is welcomed into the family and his presence imbues hope about the future, but the more close he is getting to Edith the bigger becomes his fear of disappointing and hurting her is. Consequently he soon no longer dares to be honest about his feelings.

• Tobias Åkesson