Ladies on the Rocks

The original title translates as Chaos Behind the Scenes, a neat summary of the lives and art of Micha and Laura, heroines of Thomsen's anti-romantic film and stars of their own comic cabaret. Abandoning loved ones, the women take to touring Denmark's damp autumnal provinces with their increasingly truculent show. The act is a success, but Micha and Laura's pleasure in their new life is spoiled by the failure of the old one, and by a suspicion that the ideals of both are largely fantasy. Although the message is unclear, it is delivered with an ingenuous vitality. And a curious optimism emerges from the film's waxy gloom: a triumph of large spirit over small aspirations, of bravura performance over pallid script.