That Time of Year

As the holiday looms, educator Katrine (Paprika Steen) is inundated with requests — or threatening demands disguised as requests. She and her husband Mads (Jacob Lohmann) will be hosting his parents; her divorced parents, including her eccentric and pretentious mother, Gunna (Karen-Lise Mynster); her pompous sister, Barbara (Sofie Gråbøl), a wannabe priest; Barbara’s even more pompous husband, Torben (Lars Brygmann), a writer specializing in biographies about obscure figures; and their uncontrollable hellion of a son. Katrine’s plans are upended when she gets a call from her estranged sister, Patricia (Patricia Schumann). The once-troubled daughter everyone but Katrine has written off, Patricia unexpectedly invites herself over. Her presence unleashes the high-strung Katrine’s inner martyr and prompts everyone else to abandon what little decorum they have left. (Toronto International Film Festival)