Director Hella Joof has turned Stine Askov’s novel “Nøjsomheden” into a film about hidden class differences in Helsingør, she told DR’s P1 on Friday.
Joof said she knew the book could become a film after reading only a few pages. She spoke about the project in the P1 program “Ugens Gæst” with host Pia Rønn, according to DR. She said she could sense the characters clearly and wanted to spend time with them.
The story follows Mona, who grew up in the social housing estate Nøjsomheden in Helsingør. It also follows Nikolaj, who comes from the respectable side of Kongevejen. A love story develops between them, along with a meeting between two worlds.
Mona spends time at the local swap center, where she finds books and reads them. She writes short reviews on post-it notes and attaches them to the books. Joof described her as an undemanding reader, moving from “Lykke-Per” to “Fifty Shades of Grey” and “The Da Vinci Code”.
Class codes in casual clothing
Mona also takes a job at the local bookshop, which is where she meets Nikolaj. Per Joof, the class divide between them becomes clearest through codes that are never spoken aloud.
One example is a summer party at Nikolaj’s family home. Mona arrives in makeup, a tight dress and high sandals, while the other guests sit in Birkenstocks and crumpled linen. As Joof described it, Mona has made an effort and looks striking, but some see her as embarrassingly overdressed.
The same thing happens in reverse. When Nikolaj enters Mona’s world, he orders a Tuborg Classic in a place where everyone else drinks the local Helsingør beer Wiibroe. He wears sandals, a linen shirt and glasses, and Mona’s cousin, provoked by the outfit, hits him.
Harder to spot than in England
Joof told DR that the Danish class system is difficult to see because it is often wrapped in informality. In England, she said, you can quickly hear and often see whether someone comes from a working-class or an upper-class family.
In Denmark the markers are more hidden, according to Joof. She said people can fall through socially without feeling they have done anything wrong.
She contrasted this with earlier times, when the differences were simple to read. Per Joof, the rich were often large men in waistcoats with gold watches, living on the bel étage in Bredgade. The poor worked in the fields and were dismissed as rabble.
Today the picture is far more blurred, she said, but large differences remain. Some of them, according to Joof, can only be understood by those who grew up in them.
Joof pointed to a real-world example of the two worlds colliding. She described middle-class young people who go to Copenhagen’s old-fashioned bars, sit with bottled beer and expensive bags, and find it authentic. That, she said, is also provocative.
