Anne Louise Hassing

In The Idiots (1998), Anne Louise Hassing’s Susanne is the sensible carer in a commune given to imitating disability. Hassing makes that responsibility feel ordinary, rather than an announcement that someone here has a conscience. Beside Bodil Jørgensen’s Karen, she gives us someone to take an interest in when the group’s behaviour becomes repetitive. We were relieved by her steadiness, because it allowed us to care about a person without having to approve of the experiment. Her performance is one of the strongest reasons to persist with a film we cannot recommend without reservations.

The lead in Nils Malmros’s Pain of Love (1992) came first, with Hassing playing Kirsten in her film debut. That role called on the vulnerability and emotional extremes that sit alongside her more familiar casting as gentle, good-hearted women. Susanne, her next major film role, gave that gentleness a practical job within an ensemble. A sensible supporting character can easily become no more than a useful person for the others to talk to. In von Trier’s film, Hassing makes us interested in Susanne for herself.

There are limits to what that can do for The Idiots. Lars von Trier’s handheld intimacy suits her naturalistic work, but it cannot make the imitations of disability less repetitive or give the provocation more to say. We would not recommend the film simply because its acting is persuasive. Hassing and Jørgensen make a useful case for his approach whenever the commune briefly feels like a collection of people worth understanding. Too much of the film still asks us to endure behaviour that has already made its point.

After that early prominence, her film work included more supporting parts, among them Agnes in The Hunt (2012) and Helle Friis in Kapgang (2014). Television supplied longer engagements, as Ida Nørregaard in Krøniken (2004–2007) and Therese Madsen in Seaside Hotel (2013–2024). We would welcome another film built around her, provided it gives her more to do than look after everyone else.