Stille hjerte bille august busters

Bille August is in one of his most productive phases but not, alas, one of his more creative ones. “Silent Heart” is a standard-issue tearjerker about a dying matriarch gathering her family around on the weekend she plans to off herself: The only surprise is when the script goes from merely stereotyped to spectacularly silly with a late revelation that would feel idiotic even in a farfetched 1940s meller.

The veteran actors are like vintage wine, meaning they season the cask but can’t boost the yield. Sales have been respectable, though “Heart” is best suited to TV slots and long-haul flights.

In a picture-perfect brick house, sitting in picture-perfect isolation surrounded by a picture-perfect landscape, are Esther (Ghita Norby) and Poul (Morten Grunwald).

Esther has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and some time earlier she convinced the family that e