Strong word-of-mouth, long legs for Bier's Love Is All You Need

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

20/09/2012 - Danish director Susanne Bier's Love Is All You Need [trailer], which registered the best opening so far for a Bier movie in Denmark, continues to pull local audiences, increasing ticket sales by 9,000 in its second weekend to reach 254,487 admissions in 11 days.

"It is very unusual to see a better performance in the second than in the first weekend - it proves the film has a strong word-of-mouth and most certainly long legs," explained marketing director Jan Lehmann, of Nordisk Film A/S, which handles domestic release.

Internationally premiered at the Venice International Film Festival as the first Danish film in 22 years selected for the main programme on the Lido (read the review), Love Is All You Need was screened to critical acclaim as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Denmark's TrustNordisk has closed its sales books on the €5.5 million feature, having licensed it to more than 100 territories. With the Danish title translating The Bald-headed Hairdresser, it will be launched as Wedding in Italy on November 16 by Nordisk Film Sweden.

Scripted with Anders Thomas Jensen - their In a Better World [trailer] won this year's Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Feature - Bier's first romantic comedy since The One & Only 12 years ago follows two families gathering for a wedding in Sorrento, Italy.

Danish actress Trine Dyrholm plays a cancer-stricken woman who has lost her hair and left her husband, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan a businessman with an eye for lemons and vegetables, in the Sisse Graum Jørgensen-Vibeke Windeløv production for Zentropa Entertainments.