Reviews

Four Weeks in June

A same-sex Harold and Maude

By PAUL BABIN | June 13, 2007

2.5 Stars

FOUR WEEKS IN JUNE: A same-sex Harold and Maude without the hanky-panky or comedy.

Henry Meyer’s Four Weeks in June, an audience favorite at last year’s Boston Jewish Film Festival, plays like a same-sex Harold and Maude, but without the hanky-panky or comedy. Legendary Danish actress Ghita Nørby has the Ruth Gordon role as elderly widow Lilly, who recaptures her zest for life when she meets a depressed young woman named Sandra (Tuva Novotny) and together they sort out their tawdry pasts. Novotny sells Sandra’s desperation (she’s doing community service for attacking her boyfriend with a pair of scissors) without overdoing it; her pain is expressed through downcast eyes rather than big gestures. But the supporting cast can’t keep up: Sandra’s new Polish beau, Marek (Lukasz Garlicki), is underwritten, and that the couple’s romantic escapades feel stilted. This is really a story about the two women. Who would have thought that happiness was just a leap across the generation gap?

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