Another Round: A Spirited Look at Midlife and Inebriation
Martin (Mads Mikkelsen), a history teacher at a provincial Danish school, finds himself adrift. Once an ambitious academic with doctoral aspirations, he now faces a classroom of apathetic teenagers. His children barely notice him, and his wife works night shifts, limiting their interactions to fleeting dinners. At Martin’s birthday celebration, his friend Nikolaj (Magnus Millang), a school psychologist, shares a peculiar theory: humans are born with a blood alcohol content (BAC) deficit of 0.05%, hindering their optimal state. The friends, feeling they have little to lose, decide to test this hypothesis. The results are immediate and transformative: Martin’s lessons become engaging, his life improves, and success seems within reach.
Mads Mikkelsen as Martin in a scene from “Another Round”
However, this upward trajectory is unsustainable, inevitably leading to a dramatic fall. The narrative of “Another Round” mirrors the fantastical comedies of the 80s and 90s, where a hapless protagonist gains a superpower, achieves success, but ultimately realizes that their true strength lies within. Here, the superpower is alcohol intoxication, a brilliant twist by director Thomas Vinterberg. He adapts a familiar genre plot to a story about ordinary people in a mundane Danish setting, devoid of fantasy. It’s a classic midlife crisis: life has become monotonous, romance has faded, and dreams remain relegated to the past, tantalizingly close yet unattainable.
Thomas Bo Larsen as Tommy in a scene from “Another Round”
The High and the Hangover
The narrative structure of “Another Round” can be interpreted as a metaphor for intoxication. The first half is filled with humor and camaraderie, as the characters exchange witty banter and revel in their newfound freedom, both at work and in their personal lives. The second half is a stark contrast, a prolonged hangover. It’s an acknowledgement that every indulgence has its price, and that elevated BAC levels do not solve life’s problems, but merely create the illusion that they don’t need solving.
Vinterberg avoids moralizing, however. “Another Round” isn’t a cautionary tale about the evils of alcohol. The film refrains from making simplistic judgments and painting complex lives in monochrome.
Mads Mikkelsen’s role in “Another Round” is arguably his best since “The Hunt,” also directed by Thomas Vinterberg
A Sympathetic, Sobering Look
Vinterberg observes his characters with both empathy and condescension, portraying them as endearing yet deeply unhappy individuals desperately trying to recapture a mythical time of eternal youth and intoxication. While the film can be genuinely funny, it also captures the underlying darkness often present in “alcoholic” comedies. It conveys a sense of emptiness, a silent question: what happens when the alcohol wears off and life returns to normal? “Everything feels pointless,” one of the characters declares while attempting to sober up. The scientific experiment ultimately leads nowhere, and their attempt to relive their youth crosses the line. Nikolaj’s bedwetting incident, mirroring his young son’s behavior, symbolizes how alcoholic escapism has taken him too far, returning him not to youthful exuberance, but to a state of infantile helplessness.
Echoes of Escapism
Surprisingly, “Another Round” shares thematic similarities with Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End,” another conceptual film about a man using alcohol to escape an unhappy adult life. Even more surprising is that Wright’s vision is more pessimistic, suggesting that escapism is the characters’ only option. Vinterberg, on the other hand, offers his characters a chance – though not all of them – to find themselves in the present, rather than remaining trapped in a world of empty dreams. Mads Mikkelsen’s final dance is arguably one of the most powerful cinematic moments of the year: an anti-danse macabre, a wild celebration of life. Of course, the fact that Mads and alcohol seem like a natural pairing helps. Mikkelsen is always captivating, but with a glass in his hand, he’s simply irresistible. As they say, “Cheers!”