It may go down easy, but Scherfig doesn't take the easy way out. If he doesn't want to fill a customer's order, he tells them to fuck off. Not even the death of their Italian instructor, one of the customary darkly humorous jolts the film provides, can dampen their enthusiasm. They continue to show up for class even though no one will teach them, and finally the caustic Hal-Finn agrees to step in. In a sharply executed sequence, Andreas is to preside over two funerals, the first being Olympia's father.
Confused mourners arriving for the second funeral have to be sent away.
In between services, the smitten Andreas takes Olympia out for coffee, and the date extends past the starting time of the second funeral. Other romantic comedy conventions are turned on their ear, such as a running joke that has Hal-Finn, who has a crush on Karen, being unable to get a haircut when he goes to her shop. Even in the editing, Scherfig has a fresh take. When Olympia drops a china cup after receiving a surprise, the director cuts away before the inevitable, cliched shattering. The funny part about all this is that much of the Dogma manifesto is ludicrous, and most of its auteurs seem to know it.