The Hunt (2012 film)


The Hunt is a 2012 Danish psychological drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen. Set in a small Danish village around Christmas, the film follows a man named Lucas, a divorced kindergarten teacher who becomes the target of mass hysteria after being accused of sexually abusing a child in his class.
The film gained critical acclaim for Mikkelsen's performance and Vinterberg's direction. Many have described it as one of the best psychological drama films of its time. It was competed at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, where Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award for his role, and was also screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, among other film festivals. It won the 2013 Nordic Council Film Prize and was one of the nominees for Golden Globe Award for Best [Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film] at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. It was the Danish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 86th Academy Awards and was selected as one of the final five nominees.
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Plot

Lucas is a member of a close-knit rural Danish community and works at a local kindergarten, where he gets along well with the children. He misses his teenage son, Marcus, who lives with his ex-wife after their recent divorce. However, after Marcus states he would prefer to live with his father and Lucas starts dating Nadja, a co-worker at the kindergarten, things seem to be on the up.
Klara, the daughter of Lucas' best friend Theo and a pupil at Lucas' kindergarten, has a tendency to wander off on her own when her parents argue; Lucas occasionally happens upon her when she is alone and helps her out. He accommodates her aversion to stepping on cracks and says she can walk his dog, Fanny, whenever she wants. Over time, Klara develops a crush on Lucas; when she kisses him on the mouth and gives him a small gift, he gently rebuffs her, leaving her dejected. Using details from a pornographic picture shown to her by a friend of her older brother, Klara makes comments that lead Grethe, the director of the kindergarten, to believe Lucas exposed himself to her. Grethe invites an acquaintance to interview Klara, and after Klara nods in response to the man's leading questions, Grethe, who does not believe that children lie about such things, alerts the authorities and informs the parents of the children who attend the kindergarten. Klara later contradicts her initial story, but the adults see this as stemming from denial of her ordeal.
Lucas loses his job, his friendship with Theo, and he is shunned and outcast by the community. Due to the vague language used and the secrecy around the investigation, he does not know specifically what he is accused of but eventually hears he may have been accused of abusing multiple children. The strain of this revelation leads him to break up with Nadja when he thinks she doubts his innocence.
Marcus runs away from his mother to be with Lucas. After a trip to the grocery store, where he is told that neither he nor his father are welcome anymore, he sees Lucas being arrested by the police. Locked out of the house, Marcus goes to ask Theo for a spare key, but ends up fighting with several adults for confronting Klara, asking why she lied about his father. He is taken in by Bruun, one of Lucas' friends who believes Lucas is innocent. Bruun tells Marcus that Lucas has a hearing in the morning and he is hopeful the case against his father will be dropped, since he has heard that the fabricated accounts of many children mention a "basement" in Lucas' house, which does not have one.
Lucas is released from custody, but someone kills his dog and throws a large stone through his window, so he sends Marcus back to his ex-wife and buries Fanny. On Christmas Eve, the grocery store staff beat him up and throw him out; however, he returns and headbutts the butcher to get his groceries back and buys them. Theo and his wife notice Lucas limp out of the store, bleeding from his head. During a later Christmas church service, Lucas attacks Theo in front of the congregation; challenging him to look in his eyes for a sign he is lying about his innocence, since Theo had previously stated he could always tell if Lucas was lying. When Theo visits Klara in her bedroom that night, she admits that Lucas did not do anything bad to her. Theo brings Lucas food and alcohol as the two men sit together and talk.
By the next fall, tensions in the community seem all but gone, Lucas's friends greet him as before, and he and Nadja have reconciled. Marcus receives his first rifle at a ceremony at Bruun's house. Afterwards, Lucas and Klara reunite and he carries her in his arms so she can avoid stepping on cracks. The adult men go hunting on the surrounding estate; when Lucas is by himself, a bullet barely misses him and hits a tree. He turns and watches as the shooter, silhouetted against the sun, reloads his rifle and points it at Lucas for a moment before fleeing. Lucas, shaken, stands in silence.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Zentropa for 20 million Danish kroner. It received co-production support from Sweden's Film i Väst and Zentropa International Sweden. Further support came from the Danish Film Institute, DR, Eurimages, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Swedish Film Institute, Sveriges Television, and the MEDIA Programme.

Release

The Hunt premiered on 20 May 2012 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was the first Danish-language film in the main competition since 1998. Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award at the festival.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United States on 10 December 2013.

Reception

Box office

Given its estimated $3.8 million budget, the film was a financial success. Worldwide, it earned more than $16 million, including $7.9 million in Denmark. In the United States, it was shown in 47 theaters and earned $613,308.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Anchored by Mads Mikkelsen's sympathetic performance, The Hunt asks difficult questions with the courage to pursue answers head on." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The performance of Mads Mikkelsen as Lucas received widespread acclaim. Phillip French of The Guardian awarded the film four out of five stars, describing it as "gripping, unbearably tense, yet capable of great subtlety and nuance," and praised Mikkelsen as "one of the finest actors at work today." For his role, Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge called the performance impressive, with Mikkelsen cast against type as a warm-hearted man who finds himself caught up in a situation way beyond his control, making Lucas’ immediate isolation and subsequent frustration tangible.Critics also praised Thomas Vinterberg's direction and the screenplay he co-wrote with Tobias Lindholm. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter described the film as the Danish director's most powerful since The Celebration with the charge of pedophilia playing an explosive role in a chilling study of communal hysteria. Rooney commended the script's construction and the director's ability to build tension.
In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of RogerEbert.com gave the film two out of four stars, calling it thematically rich but limited by its style, and noting its power in depicting how a community can band together against an individual in the guise of combating evil.Some reviews highlighted the film's provocative and unsettling nature. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that the film "is a merciless examination of the fear and savagery roiling just below the surface of bourgeois life."
The film's ambiguous ending also generated considerable discussion among critics, who interpreted it as a statement on the permanent scars left by false accusations. In 2025, The Hunt was one of the films voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Timess list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 268.

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipientResult
Academy Awards2 March 2014Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
Alliance of Women Film Journalists19 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmThomas VinterbergWon
British Academy Film Awards10 February 2013Best Film not in the English LanguageNomitated
British Independent Film Awards9 December 2012Best Foreign Independent FilmThomas VinterbergWon
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Danish FilmWon
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best ActorMads MikkelsenWon
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActorThomas Bo Larsen
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActorLars Ranthe
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActressAnne Louise Hassing
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best Supporting ActressSusse WoldWon
Bodil Awards1 February 2014Best CinematographyCharlotte Bruus ChristensenWon
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Best ActorMads MikkelsenWon
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Prize of the Ecumenical JuryThomas VinterbergWon
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Vulcan AwardCharlotte Bruus ChristensenWon
Cannes Film Festival27 May 2012Palme d'OrThomas VinterbergNomitated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards16 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
Critics' Choice Awards16 January 2014Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association16 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
Satellite Awards23 February 2014Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best FilmThomas VinterbergNomitated
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best DirectorThomas VinterbergNomitated
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best ActorMads MikkelsenNomitated
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best ScreenwriterThomas Vinterberg, Tobias LindholmWon
European Film Awards1 December 2012Best EditorJanus Billeskov Jansen, Anne ØsterudNomitated
Golden Globe Awards12 January 2014Best Foreign Language Film
Independent Spirit Awards1 March 2014Best Foreign FilmNomitated
London Film Critics Circle Awards20 January 2013Actor of the YearMads MikkelsenNomitated
National Board of Review Awards4 December 2013Top Foreign FilmsWon
Nordic Council Film Prize30 October 2013Nordic Council Film PrizeThomas VinterbergWon
Online Film Critics Society Awards16 December 2013Best ActorMads MikkelsenNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Danish FilmThomas VinterbergWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best DirectorThomas VinterbergWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Original ScreenplayThomas Vinterberg, Tobias LindholmWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best ActorMads MikkelsenWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Supporting ActorThomas Bo LarsenNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Supporting ActressSusse WoldWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Supporting ActressAnne Louise HassingNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best CinematographyCharlotte Bruus ChristensenNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best EditingAnne Østerud, Janus Billeskov JansenWon
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Production DesignTorben Stig NielsenNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Costume DesignManon RasmussenNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Make-UpBjørg SerupNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best Original ScoreNikolaj EgelundNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Best SoundKristian Eidnes Andersen, Thomas JægerNomitated
Robert Awards27 January 2014Audience Award - Best DramaThomas VinterbergWon
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards16 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards11 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated
Toronto Film Critics Association16 December 2013Best Foreign Language Film
Vancouver International Film Festival12 October 2012Rogers People's Choice AwardThomas VinterbergWon
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards9 December 2013Best Foreign Language FilmNomitated

Stage adaptation

The Hunt was adapted for the stage in 2019 by David Farr, and produced at the Almeida Theatre in London. The production was directed by Rupert Goold and starred Tobias Menzies as Lucas. The production ran between 19 June and 3 August 2019.