--- name: "Lone Scherfig" canonical: "https://film.one/person/lone-scherfig" fi1m_id: "lone-scherfig" imdb_id: "nm0771054" tmdb_id: 1176 wikidata_id: "Q241546" roles: ["Director"] born: "2 May 1959" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_as: "director" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-10-01T19:18:03.972125+00:00" 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." --- # Lone Scherfig ## Identity Lone Scherfig - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lone-scherfig - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** lone-scherfig - **IMDb ID:** nm0771054 - **TMDB ID:** 1176 - **Wikidata ID:** Q241546 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Scherfig, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q241546, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771054/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1176 Director. Born 2 May 1959 in Søborg, Danmark. ## Details - **Work:** Director - **Born:** 2 May 1959, Søborg, Danmark - **Active:** 2006–2009 - **Also known as:** Lone Wrede Scherfig , 론 쉐르픽 - **Titles on Fi1m:** 2: 1 directing, 1 writing - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lone_Scherfig, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q241546, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0771054/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1176 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*An Education*](https://film.one/film/an-education.md) (82) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Lone Scherfig > Lone Scherfig makes room for people to be funny, impatient and mistaken without treating them as fools. We value her warmth and light comic touch, though her polished presentation can soften the awkwardness that gives a story its force. In *An Education* (2009), the conversation between a schoolgirl and an older man can be easy without being reassuring. Scherfig understands the schoolgirl’s impatience to get on with living and never treats it as mere foolishness. We felt uneasy watching Carey Mulligan’s Jenny Mellor take David Goldman’s attention as proof of her readiness for adult life, because Peter Sarsgaard keeps their difference in experience apparent. Scherfig handles the attraction and the discomfort with care. We recommend the film warmly, though its supporting adults are not all given Jenny’s complexity. Her international breakthrough, *Italian for Beginners* (2000), used the Dogme approach to location shooting and naturalistic sound. She moved into English-language features with *Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself* (2002), balancing comedy with more painful feeling. Her subsequent British and international work includes *One Day* (2011) and the wartime London ensemble *Their Finest* (2017). The recurring interest is in relationships and the choices people hope will improve their lives. The care over timing is particularly clear in *An Education*. Barney Pilling’s editing keeps the comedy moving without cutting short our opportunities to watch Jenny thinking. Paul Englishby’s score suits Scherfig’s light touch, although its agreeableness can make difficult material feel too comfortable. The performances put back some of the awkwardness the polish removes. Sarsgaard supplies enough charm to make the attraction credible, while Mulligan makes Jenny’s wish to escape the life planned for her feel urgent. The limit is clearest in Nick Hornby’s screenplay, which sometimes gives the supporting adults a lesson to deliver rather than a life of their own. Alfred Molina and Olivia Williams suggest more than their immediate function in Jenny’s story, but the smaller parts can remain thin. Scherfig’s generosity towards actors helps without solving that problem. Start with *An Education*, and watch what Mulligan does with the time Scherfig gives her. ## Biography Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 1984 after studying film at the University of Copenhagen and the Sorbonne. Her feature debut was *Kajs fødselsdag* (1990). She directed the Dogme 95 film *Italian for Beginners* (2000), which won the Silver Bear (Jury Prize) at the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival. Subsequent films include *Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself* (2002), *An Education* (2009), *One Day* (2011), *The Riot Club* (2014) and *Their Finest* (2017). She has also directed television series. *Sources: imdb.com, dfi.dk, en.wikipedia.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) ### Directed (1) — the average rests on these - *An Education* (2009), Fi1m 82, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/an-education.md) ### Wrote (1) - *Red Road* (2006), Fi1m 74, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/red-road.md) ## Complete filmography (30) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Girl with the Needle* (2024), Executive Producer - *Bullshit* (2024), series, Executive Producer - *The Movie Teller* (2023), Director - *Dag & Nacht* (2023), series, Original Series Creator, Executive Producer - *The Shift* (2022), series, Creator, Idea, Writer, Script, Executive Producer, Director - *The Idiots Who Started The Party* (2020), as Sig selv - *The Day We Died* (2020), Executive Producer - *The Kindness of Strangers* (2019), Executive Producer, Director, Writer - *Backstabbing for Beginners* (2018), Executive Producer - *Their Finest* (2017), Director - *A Serious Game* (2016), Writer - *The Astronaut Wives Club* (2015), series, Director - *Ulla Terkelsen i Italien* (2015), series, as Sig selv - *The Riot Club* (2014), Director - *One Day* (2011), Director - *Donkeys* (2010), Characters - *An Education* (2009), Director — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/an-education.md) - *Just Like Home* (2007), Director, Writer - *Red Road* (2006), Writer — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/red-road.md) - *Jeg er bare den logerende* (2005), Director, Writer - *Better Times* (2004), series, Director - *Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself* (2002), Director, Screenplay - *Italian for Beginners* (2000), Director, Screenplay - *Morten Korch - Ved stillebækken* (1999), series, Writer, Director - *On Our Own* (1998), Director, Writer - *Taxa* (1997), series, Writer, Director - *Flemming og Berit* (1994), series, Creator - *The Birthday Trip* (1990), Director - *Den onde cirkel* (1984), Director - *Honeytrap*, Director, Screenplay ## Gallery - ![Lone Scherfig at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.](https://film.one/media/person/100391/gallery-87e8d01b4231.jpg) Lone Scherfig at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. — gdcgraphics at https://www.flickr.com/photos/gdcgraphics/, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/LoneScherfig09TIFF.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Film: Their Finest with the director Lone Scherfig in conversation at O Cinema Miami Beach during Miami Film Festival on March 5, 2017](https://film.one/media/person/100391/gallery-64eecf347f7a.jpg) Film: Their Finest with the director Lone Scherfig in conversation at O Cinema Miami Beach during Miami Film Festival on March 5, 2017 — MiamiFilmFestival, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Lone_Scherfig%2C_Director.jpg/1280px-Lone_Scherfig%2C_Director.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Toronto International Film Festival 2009. Director of "An Education".](https://film.one/media/person/100391/gallery-4b96ba87ea1e.jpg) Toronto International Film Festival 2009. Director of "An Education". — Gordon Correll, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Lone_Scherfig_%283979417323%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) ## Awards ### Other awards — 3 won, 3 nominated - Bodil Honorary Award 2018: Bodil Honorary Award (won) - Nordic Honorary Dragon Award 2017: Nordic Honorary Dragon Award (won) - European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2010: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *An Education* - European Film Award for Best Film 2001: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Italian for Beginners* - European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director 2001: European Film Award - People's Choice Award for Best Director (nominated), for *Italian for Beginners* - Robert Award for Best Screenplay 2001: Robert Award for Best Screenplay (won), for *Italian for Beginners* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lone-scherfig