Stayed up late and watched this film.. bad decision, for I could not put it out of my mind, thinking about what I would say regarding it. If you're like me, you probably watch quite a few indy and foreign films, so there's more a possibility of coming across individuals you know little or nothing about involved in their effort. With this film there are several exceptional talents displayed. It's a great experience, because when you see the person again, you'll easily remember the first time you saw them. It's impossible now to ever forget this performance of Frederikke Dahl Hansen, she is just awesome.. binged.it/1sYfR1m .. Twenty years old she's playing the role of a very bright, awkward/shy-at-times, fourteen year old girl.. falling hard in love for the first time (with a guy twice her age). It's a standout, career-starting display of top notch talent, at times you see each part clearly. For a young actor her age, to be portraying a character so much younger is the big challenge, and give credit to her being selected for the role. Now although she will without question be in many more productions, you will always see a part of her as Effy (and we have another Effy.. if you haven't seen 'Skins'..watch it). Gethin Anthony also deserves much praise, his complex character again being played to perfection.. good portion of us wondering how he was going to come through it all in the end. It's a truly wonderful little film, one you'll definitely look forward to viewing again.

Major spoilers below. This is a great movie if you like a mellow thoughtful drama.

Spoilers beyond this point.

This is what I thought about the movie: William was a damaged person who could never relate to women. Women found him attractive, but all he did through his whole life was have sex with them and throw them away.

When he was in Copenhagen he really needed Effy's help and he wanted to sleep with her badly, but when he found out she was 14 the fear of getting in trouble kept him from doing it, but then something else happened. Since the legality slowed him down he really had to get to know her and he really did love her deeply and not just as a girlfriend, he loved her as a person. She was his friend and girlfriend though unconsummated.

When they were in the hotel and she wanted to have sex with him he wanted to very badly, but I think at this point it was no the law that stopped him. What stopped him was that he really cared for her and he knew she was too young and it would be bad for her so he stopped himself.

I would guess Effy's motivations were that she never really had a father so she was attracted to older men. Like is hinted at in the movie in the beginning, 'she needed someone to lean on.' William was a poor choice but as I said above her age and the law slowed him down enough so that he became that better person that she could lean on.

Perhaps in some ways it seemed erratic at the time, but I think this came to a head when he punched her mother's boyfriend. she wasn't going to let anyone hurt her no matter what the consequences.

Effy taught him a lot too, she helped him live and grow and you see this in the final scene when he observes the two seas she was talking about.

I have to say that now that this is on Netflix it is quite likely that this will reach a wide, wide audience and that Frederikke is going to be a huge star. She has the looks, the voice, beautiful accent, and the screen presence to be a major, major actress. She can do anything she wants after this movie. I believe this is her "Winter's Bone." Other than Frederikke the whole cast and the entire movie is just wonderful. watching it for the second time right now.

For those that say this is about a man taking advantage of a 14 year old girl....that is the last thing it is. It is about this girl helping this man to not just become a man, but to become a good man and she succeeds, even if it was not her intention.

I'm giving this 9 out of 10 stars.

***warning, possible spoilers*** this movie should be studied in film classes: you watch it, enjoy it, but don't really realize the effectiveness of the writer and director until later. Here is what happens:

1. An analogy best explains this film: we have all probably seen a video of a master with his dog. Sitting in front of the dog is the most delectable treat imaginable to the dog. The dog does nothing even though every fiber of its being wants to gobble up that treat. It is waiting for its masters command. The Masters here are the writer and director, the dog is the male lead. The girl is the treat (and not in a prurient sense). She says she will be 15 (the age of consent) "in a few days". He wants to pounce (But not in a sexual sense even though there is obvious physical attraction).

2. The age difference is not for shock value. It is a very effective plot device relating to 1 above.

3. They are alone in a hotel room, both drunk (largely at his insistence). She is the aggressor. The reality is he cannot believe she is only 14 and repeatedly says that throughout the movie. She tries to seduce him, taking off her blouse and kissing him which he appears to accept.

4. The "masters" do not outright state that they did not sleep together but instead, more effectively, make that clear by: they both wake up in bed fully clothed (she must have put her top back on) in sharp contrast to his other many dalliances where he graphically wakes up with a naked partner; just prior to this he turns down an offer that most males his age dream about – two beautiful drunk girls try to drag him back to their hotel for a threesome. Instead of going with the women, he is much more concerned about having hurt the girl's feelings and rushes out of the bar, leaving the women, to try to call the girl and apologize for acting like a jerk. So, the attraction is not about sex per se. there is much more to his feelings for the girl and he is clearly conflicted. He does not sleep with her.

5. There is more to him than meets the eye: he is in Denmark to find his grandfather and understand why he was abandoned by his father. The girl, with a great heart and overlooking the fact that he is superficially an insensitive jerk sees something deeper in him and embraces the cause of him finding his past and takes it upon herself to help him.

6. The girl, is far more substantial and mature than the women he has been sleeping with (who is really older, the girl or his earlier partners?). She too, has a troubled family but is very close to her mother and wants to help him resolve that part of his life.

7. In one effective scene, he simply glances down a street and sees a father briefly interacting with his son (short and effective).

8. The most effective scene in the movie: she takes him to a museum. She brings him to a dark corner where there is a bust. She tells him she has never brought anyone there before. She stands next to the bust. It is an exact image of the girl. She tells him she is really hundreds of years old and he says the bust is 1500 years old. This scene is a metaphor for what the movie accomplishes. After 1500 years, here she (who posed for the bust) is here again, resurrected, with the human traits that allowed us to survive over those 1500 years: the yearning for family, love, and a striving for happiness even in an imperfect world. In other hands this might seem corny, here it is movie-making genius.