Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself [Wilbur begår selvmord] *** (2002, Adrian Rawlins, Jamie Sives, Shirley Henderson, Mads Mikkelson, Lisa McKinlay) – Classic Movie Review 3693

Co-writer/director Lone Scherfig’s complete and fulfilling 2002 Danish Euro drama stars Adrian Rawlins as kind and good-natured Harbour, who always takes care of his suicidal younger brother Wilbur (Jamie Sives).

Scherfig’s Zentropa movie, set in a beautiful but depressing Scotland, is a dark-toned, affecting, and high-quality tearjerker, with the excellent acting fleshing out and bringing to life the interesting characters.

The brothers run a bookshop that they have inherited, or rather Harbour mostly does, and then single mum Alice (Shirley Henderson) enters the shop – and their lives – with her little daughter Mary (Lisa McKinlay). Harbour falls in love with hospital cleaning lady Alice who sells the books the patients leave. Mary wants a home with the books. Alice notices Wilbur’s sex appeal.

Also in the cast are Mads Mikkelson, Julia Davis and Susan Vidler.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3693

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