Thanks Stanley. I too found Festen an extremely impressive film which could teach UK directors a few things about originality and emotional power. I might well take up that offer.

Thanks, offbeat.    Yes, Bunuel is a worthy addition to the list - and what a film-maker.

This, of course, is the time of the year when we can anticipate all the cosy preconceptions about seasonal family reunions and tinkling sountracks to 'Chesnuts roasting on an open fire...!    Reminders, too, of West End productions of Dodie Smith's sentimental "Dear Octupus"   -   "a toast to the family from whose tentacles we can never quite escape" - and packed theatres with at least half a dozen good quality actors to spin the sentiment with confidence.   In the 1950s'60s, we also had regular TV outings for an earlier film version of Wynyard Browne's play "The Holly And The Ivy"; another family gathering, including the blessed Celia Johnson, but this time including a wayward daughter who'd had a 'relationship' out-of-marriage,...with a foreigner!    The rotter.

Last night, I watched the worthwhile bonus material on the "Festen" DVD and it really was a huge gamble to tackle such a broad theme with a tiny budget - the fees must have been no more than pocket money - yet managed to attract well known Danish actors, prepared to commit themselves to a video production, using a new technique with tiny hand-held cameras and working on location with natural light and sound. The director Thomas Vinterberg was 25 and clearly a risk-taker and prepared to improvise.     Watching the film, I remember my surprise at seeing the extras, round the long dining room table, all playing relatives and friends with bemused boozy smiles, spontaneously turning to frozen disbelief as the son, Christian, read from the letter of a dead sister (suicide), charging their father with incest.   The first reaction - same as the viewer - is disbelief, a cheap streak of mischief.   This is followed by the uneasiness of a shocked group waiting for a decisive instruction.  Vinterberg coasted the table with his hand-held cameras.    I didn't realise until I saw the bonus feature that, apart from the family, he didn't tell the 'guests' the import of Christian's letter so that the fluidity of the cameras could get their reaction in one take.   An astonishing tour de force.

Apart from its innovations, the brilliance of the film is to steer clear of good and bad concepts in human behaviour and, in turn, you work harder to gain an understanding of the flaws in human nature; yes, it does give a crumbling bourgeois complacency a bloody nose as it tilts the focus on each character but, eventually, human beings emerge from the debris and the film is by no means devoid of humour.   The sop of an easy self-righteousness indignation is denied us.

                               We are not wholly bad or good
                               Who live our lives under Milk Wood                 Rev. Eli Jenkins

The cast were overwhelmed by the reception at the Cannes Film Festival and the 10 minute standing ovation after its screening at The Palais.   There is always something rather special about climbing the red-carpeted steps there and you feel the tingling excitement in the auditorium.   They also remembered the initial marketing prospects when the whole thing was almost written off, a potential audience of 3,000 in Denmark, say, after the subject matter was known.

Your memory is in good nick, offbeat, as 'Festen' was transmitted on C4, followed by the expected hiatus!