THE TENTH MUSE
'The Tenth Muse' is a strong melodrama about Denmark's - and one of the World's - biggest silent film stars - Asta Nielsen.
The Dramatist Peter Asmussen wrote the screenplay -
and Torben Skjødt Jensen is the Director.
Sunday August 17. 2003 Torben Skjødt Jensens film 'THE TENTH MUSE' about the silent film star Asta Nielsen had it's World premiere. The film was in competition on the First Copenhagen International Film Festival, where it won three prices: Best Cinematography, Lifetime Achivment Award and an Audience award. The film had it's German premiere during the Hamburg Film Festival, September 22. 2003.
The film takes place in 1964, in Asta Nielsen's apartment on Frederiksberg, where she meets the young filmmaker Lars Schmidt. Their meeting is set to discuss the making of a film portraying her life. Asta Nielsen receives the young filmmaker in her home, and she seems surprisingly willing to talk and to participate in the filmmaker's project. But he ends up being too close - too close to the truth.Asta Nielsen's private life behind the stage has always remained a mystery to the public. Lars Schmidt is thrilled: It is going to be a great story. However, he gets more and more inquisitive and begins to question Asta Nielsen's description of the relationship with her daughter, Jesta. Asta Nielsen feels threatened and fires the filmmaker. Nevertheless, she is determined to take over the production and make her own portrait film.
Jesta becomes so appalled with the behaviour of her mother, that she, for the first time, tells openly about her life in the shadow of 'Die Asta': A cruel story about being "ugly" and "a failure" in order to let the mother's star shine. Jesta finally relieves the burdens of her heart and tells everything - but it is more than she can bear - and she commits suicide. The filmmaker comes to realize that revealing other peoples' secret lives, is not without severe consequences.
Vera Gebuhr has the lead role as the aging Asta Nielsen and Ole Lemmeke the role as the filmmaker - Lars Schmidt. The daughter Jesta is played by Lene Tiemroth, while the young Asta is played by Vivian Nielsen, who also played Asta Nielsen on stage in the play 'Asta die Asta' (98), for which she also wrote the script. Other major roles are played by Trine Dyrholm, Sarah Boberg, Steen Stig Lommer, Jesper Lohmann, Stina Ekblad, Lars Simonsen, Claus Bue, Claus Flygare, Inger Hovmann, Berrit Kvorning, Jesper Asholt, Steen Springborg and Thomas Gabrielsson.
The highly acknowledged Norwegian Director of Photography Harald Paalgard was once again behind the camera and thereby continues his co-operation with Torben Skjødt Jensen - which started with the documentary film 'Dreyer - My Metier' (95) followed by the feature film 'The Man who would live forever' (99). Søren Breum was Art Director, Anders Koppel composed the music, Ghita Beckendorff did the editing, and Jan Maagaard was assistant Director.
Watch the trailer for THE TENTH MUSE.
