Queen of Hearts

Denmark's Academy Submission for Best International Feature
Opens on November 1 at Laemmle's Glendale
On DVD and VOD on November 19

Anne, a brilliant and dedicated lawyer specializing in children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events that threatens to destroy her world.

QUEEN OF HEARTS explores the making of a tragic family secret step by step, as the consequences of hubris, lust and lies conspire to create an unimaginable dilemma. QUEEN OF HEARTS follows a woman who jeopardizes both her career and her family when she seduces her teenage stepson and is forced to make an irreversible decision with fatal consequences. Directed by May el-Toukhy (Karen Blixen biopic THE LIONESS), the film celebrated its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won The Audience Award for World Cinema Dramatic, and is the winner of the world’s most lucrative film award: The Goteborg’s Dragon Award. 

Starring Silver Bear-winning Danish actress Trine Dyrholm (YOU DISAPPEAR, 2017; THE COMMUNE, 2016; IN A BETTER WORLD, 2010), Swedish upcoming talent Gustav Lindh, winner of the Rising Star Award at Stockholm Film Festival in 2017, and internationally acclaimed Swedish actor Magnus Krepper.

QUEEN OF HEARTS is distributed in the US by Breaking Glass Pictures and will open on November 1st at Laemmle's Glendale Theater. The film will be available on DVD and VOD starting November 19th.

Director May el-Toukhy (1977) is born and brought up in a suburb of Copenhagen, by her Danish mother and Egyptian father. She has a background in theater, and graduated from The Danish National School of Performing Arts in 2002, before she moved on to film and graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2009. Her first feature film and national breakthrough “LONG STORY SHORT” was a success among both the audience and critics, and won her, her writer and members of the cast several awards. The film was made in collaboration with producer Caroline Blanco and author Maren Louise Käehne that she has known since film school, apart from Trine Dyrholm who also starred in the film, and the four decided to continue the vibrant coalition on “QUEEN OF HEARTS”. Apart from doing feature films el-Toukhy has also been working in theater, directed radio-plays and episodes of the award-winning TV series “The Legacy” and “Ride Upon the Storm” at the DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). “QUEEN OF HEARTS” is her second feature. 

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Queen of Hearts is the story of a tragic fall from grace. 

I’ve made many mistakes in my life. I’ve made bad decisions, faltered when it mattered, and shown poor judgment over and over again. 

Some of the missteps can be overlooked and boxed away. Some have had painful consequences for others, and myself, and the ensuing shame and guilt of harming others has created a burden I have to carry: A burden which continues to shape me for better and for worse. 

That’s how it is for most people: our flaws and insufficiency define us. They help us grow if we have the capacity to admit our errors, but if we are not capable of doing so they can taint and shatter us, and eventually create great inner loneliness. 

In Queen of Hearts, a powerful woman makes a series of irreversible decisions that have unimaginable consequences for her and the people she holds dear. The film explores how far we are willing to go, once those choices are made, to protect ourselves and maintain the status quo in our existence. 

Power is a strong overall theme. The power structures of families often convey truths about power structures in general; the apparent yet often invisible power hierarchy in families fascinates me because it is seldom spoken about, yet lived almost by primal instinct.

With this story, I want to explore the sense of entitlement that comes with being in power and what can happen when we do not take the responsibility that comes with authority seriously, whether it being in our private or professional lives.  

We have a tendency in the world of fiction to tell stories about the idea that there is something good in the evil, but we seldom tell stories about the evil in the good, even though it also contains eternal truths about human behavior. It’s my ambition to address this schism and at the same time aim towards telling a story where spectators are confronted with their own beliefs and are encouraged to take a stand as the story plays out.

To enhance this vision, I choose to block many of the scenes of the film somewhat democratically – in one-takes and in two-shots, in opposition to consistently maneuvering the audience by cutting to close-ups to underline dramatic significance or change of emotional state. 

Even though there is an obvious primary main character dramatically, it was important for me to leave space visually for the spectators to shape their own opinions in regard to the characters actions. By doing so, I hope to empower the story to force questions not necessarily provide answers.