Jacob Petersen manages an Indian orphanage. With a small staff, he works as hard as he can to keep the orphanage afloat, and is personally invested in the young charges - in particular, Pramod, a young boy Jacob has cared for since the boy's birth. The orphanage has been in danger of collapse for eight years and faces bankruptcy. A Danish corporation offers a substantial donation to maintain the orphanage, with the caveat that Jacob return to Denmark (where he grew up) to personally receive the funds. Apparently the CEO, Jørgen Hannson, wishes to meet Jacob.
In 1890 Kristiania (Oslo), an impoverished and lonely writer named Pontus (Per Oscarsson) comes to the city from the country. He stands on a bridge, overlooking running water, writing but clearly starving. He visits a pawnbroker several times. He sells his waistcoat for a few cents, then gives the money to a beggar. Other money that falls into his hands he also gives away. He has written an article that a newspaper editor (Henki Kolstad) agrees to publish if he makes some corrections, but Pontus is too proud to accept an advance when offered, so he leaves elated but still hungry. He begs a bone for his dog, which he gnaws on secretly in an alley. He often has the chance to make things better for himself, but his pride gets in the way, such as when he declines the much-needed help of a worried friend.
A scholarly dissertation on the appearances of demons and witches in primitive and medieval culture, a number of photographs of statuary, paintings, and woodcuts are used as demonstrative pieces. In addition, several large scale models are employed to demonstrate medieval concepts of the structure of the solar system and the commonly accepted depiction of Hell.
Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) is a Swedish doctor who commutes between his home in Denmark and his work in a Sudanese refugee camp. In Sudan, he often treats female patients who are the victims of a sadistic warlord. Anton is married to Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), but they are separated, and struggling with the possibility of divorce over an affair that Anton had with another woman. They have two young sons, the older one being 12-year-old Elias (Markus Rygaard).
It is the story of a boy named Benny who is bored in the apartment house where his parents don't have time to talk or play with him. Outdoors, Benny catches a tadpole which he takes home into the bathtub. Benny discovers the tadpole is an enchanted prince, who dives with Benny to the bottom of the bathtub and into a magical ocean world. In this fantastic world Benny meets pirates, mermaids and an octopus and experiences the things he misses in his daily life.
Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain is shown writing a letter to her children in which she professes to tell them the truth. In flashback, Caroline talks of England, as she was about to leave to marry Christian VII of Denmark. She is passionate about the arts and education, but when she arrives in Denmark she is told that many of her books are banned by the state. Christian is mentally ill and Caroline is unhappy in the marriage. She is soon pregnant with a son (Frederick VI of Denmark), but the couple grow far apart and the king stops visiting her bedroom.
A young, idealistic American hopes to "show some kindness" to the German people soon after the end of World War II. In US-occupied Germany, he takes on work as a sleeping car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a femme fatale, and becomes embroiled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy.
A man is standing in a subway car, his face dirty with soot. In his right hand he carries a plastic bag with documents, or rather, the charred leftovers of them. In a corridor a man is clinging desperately to the legs of the boss who just fired him. He is screaming: "I've been here for thirty years!" In a coffee shop someone is waiting for his father, who just burned his furniture company for insurance money. Traffic jams and self-flagellating stock brokers are filling up the streets while an economist, desperate for a solution to the problem of work becoming too expensive, gazes into the crystal ball of a scryer. Everything and everyone is going somewhere but their goal and its meaning have disappeared along the way.
Asger Holm, répartiteur d'appels d'urgence au 112, répond à un appel d'une femme qu'on est en train de kidnapper, mais la communication s'interrompt soudainement. Avec son seul téléphone, il tente de résoudre l'affaire. Il s’ensuivra une course contre la montre et Asger Holm finira par découvrir qu’il s’agit d’un crime plus grave qu’il ne l’avait pensé.
Cecilia et Joaquim, jeune couple d'amoureux, sont sur le point de se marier quand Joaquim est renversé par une voiture. Le diagnostic des médecins est sans appel : le jeune homme restera tétraplégique. Cecilia se prépare à affronter l'avenir avec son mari paralysé. Mais ce dernier sombre dans la dépression et préfère couper les ponts. De son côté, Marie, mariée depuis quinze ans et mère de trois enfants, est rongée par un sentiment de culpabilité : elle conduisait la voiture responsable de l’accident. Elle demande alors à Niels, son mari médecin, de se rapprocher de soutenir la fiancée de Joaquim pour la soutenir dans cette épreuve.
The story of two brothers who lose track of each other after an unstable childhood until they meet up again in prison is the focus of former ‘Dogme’ director Thomas Vinterberg’s film based on a book by Jonas T. Bengtsson, a Danish novelist celebrated for his unflinching realism. The film’s title refers to a method of torture known as ‘submarino’ in which the target’s head is held under water to just before the point of drowning.