--- title: "The Celebration: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-celebration/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-celebration" critics_score: 74 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Celebration (1998): what the critics said Critics' score 74 from 7 reviews: 4 positive, 3 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics respond warmly to The Celebration’s blend of black comedy and family trauma, praising its ability to make a birthday gathering funny, disturbing and emotionally involving. Praise centres on the ensemble’s hesitant, uncertain performances and the intimacy of the hand-held camerawork. The more enthusiastic reviews find that the Dogme 95 restrictions give the confrontation energy and immediacy without getting in the story’s way. Reservations centre on whether that same style serves the drama or distracts from it, with responses ranging from strong enthusiasm to qualified approval. Sight and Sound questions its claims to authenticity but finds the performances compelling enough to overcome the mannerisms. Time Out considers the comedy entertaining but less original or outrageous than it assumes. Variety offers a sharper objection: the agile camerawork and strong cast cannot prevent the revelations from feeling fashionable and lacking deeper truth. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 13 November 1998. The critic praises how the film mixes farce and tragedy in a challenging way during a family birthday party where secrets emerge. It highlights the effective use of Dogma 95 rules to create intimacy and vitality without stumbling over the story. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-celebration-1998) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 23 April 2002. The film is an extremely approachable, unflinching, darkly comedic, and profoundly humane work that proves the power of the Dogme 95 approach. It stands out among films about dark family secrets for its honesty and emotional resonance. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-celebration-1798197363) ## Sight and Sound — Peter Matthews Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 March 1999. The critic finds the Dogme 95 restrictions produce a disorienting style that undercuts claims to raw authenticity, yet the film succeeds when the stripped-down approach draws raw, hesitant performances from the cast. These moments allow Festen to transcend its mannered aesthetic and function as a compelling near-documentary of family crisis. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/49) ## Time Out — GA Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 3 May 2011. The critic describes the film as thoroughly entertaining black comedy that exposes family abuse at a patriarch’s birthday party, but judges it less outrageous and original than it believes itself to be. The Dogme 95 style is singled out as somewhat tricksy, though the movie remains an assured and abrasive work that never outstays its welcome. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-celebration) ## Empire — Caroline Rees Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic finds it a mildly intriguing, well-acted affair, particularly by Ulrich Thomsen, but notes that the hard-to-handle Dogme packaging distracts from the content. It is a fierce dissection of family life but unsettling. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/festen-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan 16 October 1998. The critic describes it as a remarkably mature, beautifully calibrated film about out-of-control family dynamics that is raw yet humorous and emotionally dangerous. It singles out the hand-held camerawork for adding intimacy and the ensemble acting for conveying uncertainty. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-oct-16-ca-32893-story.html) ## The New York Times — Janet Maslin 7 October 1998. Festival review. The critic calls it a virtuoso feat that strips conventions while delivering thrilling vitality and inventive storytelling at a family reunion turned confrontation. It singles out the mobile camerawork and editing for creating palpable momentum amid shocking revelations. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/07/movies/film-festival-review-a-family-making-orphanhood-look-good.html) ## Variety — Godfrey Cheshire 18 May 1998. Festival review. The critic finds the Dogma 95 style propulsively inventive for the family comedy-melodrama at first but ultimately uneven and callow as it relies on trendy revelations without deeper truth. It praises the agile lensing and strong ensemble performances, especially by Thomas Bo Larsen and Henning Moritzen. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/the-celebration-1117477500/) ## Collider — Benedict Hudson-Laursen Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 26 October 2024. The critic calls it arguably Vinterberg’s finest film, an intensely morbid yet unrelentingly captivating dark comedy that exposes family secrets through a tense family gathering. The Dogme 95 handheld style is singled out for lending the story a home-movie authenticity that heightens its emotional impact. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-celebration-movie/) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 19 January 2001. Vinterberg delivers a raw family drama that exposes hidden traumas and hypocrisy during a patriarch's birthday celebration. The aggressive handheld camerawork and ensemble performances stand out for their unflinching intensity. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/festen-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-celebration.md