Another Round
I liked it quite a lot. I did not see it as a film about “alcohol is bad”, but as a story about middle-aged men who feel extinguished, trapped in routine and out of place, and who find in drinking a dangerous excuse to feel alive again.
The experiment is both absurd and very human: four teachers decide to keep a certain blood alcohol level to see if they function better. At first the theory almost seems to make sense. Martin loosens up, connects more with his students, recovers energy and stops looking like a man defeated before his time. That is the trap: if something makes you feel better immediately, it is easy to confuse relief with a solution.
The film is smart because it does not remain a drunken comedy. Little by little, “I’m in control” begins to collapse. They increase the dose, justify exceptions, believe they are more lucid than they are and stop seeing their own mistakes. What struck me was that the students notice the teacher is lost and doing things wrong before he can admit it.
I have drunk a lot at certain times, but I have never felt the need to drink in order to function. That is why it is hard for me to understand someone who enters that dependence. Drinking is not the same as needing to drink. One thing is to overdo it one night; another is to turn a substance into an emotional crutch to teach, relate to others, dare or endure your own life.
It is similar to people who say “I’m in control” with any drug while they are already using it to feel capable. The self-deception is always the same: believing you are in charge when you need more and more to get the same effect. Vinterberg shows it without preaching. He does not put up signs saying “this is wrong”; he lets you see the slide.
Mads Mikkelsen is magnificent. He has that mixture of exhaustion, elegance, sadness and broken dignity that means Martin never seems like just a ridiculous drunk. He is a dimmed teacher, a disconnected husband, a man who has lost his spark and suddenly thinks he has found an exit door. The beautiful and sad thing is that for a while it seems true.
I also liked the group of teachers. They are neither saints nor caricatures. Each one enters the experiment from a different lack: boredom, fear, frustration, loneliness, a sense of failure. That is why the film works best when it treats them as lost men rather than focusing only on the drinking. Alcohol does not create the void; it lights it up, disguises it and then makes it bigger.
The students’ side has weight. When the teacher helps the shy boy loosen up and pass, the film avoids an easy reading. Not everything that comes from the experiment is immediately negative. There are moments when drinking seems to open a door to confidence, communication and affection. And that is exactly why it is more dangerous: because it is not a total lie, but a partial truth that ends up devouring everything.
The contrast between celebrating the students’ success and the death of one of the teachers felt very strong. The film cuts the euphoria at once and reminds you that the game had consequences. I really liked the detail of the boy with glasses leaving a flower on the grave: that teacher, with all his problems, had managed to help someone.
The film seems especially good to me because it neither fully condemns nor fully celebrates. It looks at alcohol as something that can loosen people, unite them, cheer them and give them courage, but also as something that destroys when it becomes support. It is not puritanical, but it is not naive either. It understands the pleasure and the danger.
The ending with Mikkelsen dancing is beautiful because it does not erase what happened. It is not “everything is fine”; it is an instant of life, of body, of possible joy after the blow. Martin is not solved, but for a moment he moves again like someone who can still feel.
In the end, for me it remains a very good film, sad and vital at the same time. It talks about alcohol, yes, but above all about crisis, friendship, routine, loss of enthusiasm and that temptation to search outside yourself for a better version of who you are. It felt honest, very well acted and more complex than it might have seemed. A round that begins as a game and ends up leaving quite a serious aftertaste.
The experiment is both absurd and very human: four teachers decide to keep a certain blood alcohol level to see if they function better. At first the theory almost seems to make sense. Martin loosens up, connects more with his students, recovers energy and stops looking like a man defeated before his time. That is the trap: if something makes you feel better immediately, it is easy to confuse relief with a solution.
The film is smart because it does not remain a drunken comedy. Little by little, “I’m in control” begins to collapse. They increase the dose, justify exceptions, believe they are more lucid than they are and stop seeing their own mistakes. What struck me was that the students notice the teacher is lost and doing things wrong before he can admit it.
I have drunk a lot at certain times, but I have never felt the need to drink in order to function. That is why it is hard for me to understand someone who enters that dependence. Drinking is not the same as needing to drink. One thing is to overdo it one night; another is to turn a substance into an emotional crutch to teach, relate to others, dare or endure your own life.
It is similar to people who say “I’m in control” with any drug while they are already using it to feel capable. The self-deception is always the same: believing you are in charge when you need more and more to get the same effect. Vinterberg shows it without preaching. He does not put up signs saying “this is wrong”; he lets you see the slide.
Mads Mikkelsen is magnificent. He has that mixture of exhaustion, elegance, sadness and broken dignity that means Martin never seems like just a ridiculous drunk. He is a dimmed teacher, a disconnected husband, a man who has lost his spark and suddenly thinks he has found an exit door. The beautiful and sad thing is that for a while it seems true.
I also liked the group of teachers. They are neither saints nor caricatures. Each one enters the experiment from a different lack: boredom, fear, frustration, loneliness, a sense of failure. That is why the film works best when it treats them as lost men rather than focusing only on the drinking. Alcohol does not create the void; it lights it up, disguises it and then makes it bigger.
The students’ side has weight. When the teacher helps the shy boy loosen up and pass, the film avoids an easy reading. Not everything that comes from the experiment is immediately negative. There are moments when drinking seems to open a door to confidence, communication and affection. And that is exactly why it is more dangerous: because it is not a total lie, but a partial truth that ends up devouring everything.
The contrast between celebrating the students’ success and the death of one of the teachers felt very strong. The film cuts the euphoria at once and reminds you that the game had consequences. I really liked the detail of the boy with glasses leaving a flower on the grave: that teacher, with all his problems, had managed to help someone.
The film seems especially good to me because it neither fully condemns nor fully celebrates. It looks at alcohol as something that can loosen people, unite them, cheer them and give them courage, but also as something that destroys when it becomes support. It is not puritanical, but it is not naive either. It understands the pleasure and the danger.
The ending with Mikkelsen dancing is beautiful because it does not erase what happened. It is not “everything is fine”; it is an instant of life, of body, of possible joy after the blow. Martin is not solved, but for a moment he moves again like someone who can still feel.
In the end, for me it remains a very good film, sad and vital at the same time. It talks about alcohol, yes, but above all about crisis, friendship, routine, loss of enthusiasm and that temptation to search outside yourself for a better version of who you are. It felt honest, very well acted and more complex than it might have seemed. A round that begins as a game and ends up leaving quite a serious aftertaste.
Mini Review: I liked it quite a lot. I did not see it as a film about “alcohol is bad”, but as a story about middle-aged men who feel extinguished, trapped in routine and out of place, and who find in drinking a dangerous excuse to feel alive again. The experiment is both absurd and very human: four teachers decide to keep a certain blood alcohol level to see if they function better. At first the theory almost seems to make sense. Martin loosens up, connects ...
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