John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentShowrun by “An Education” director Lone Scherfig and anchored by the performance of “The Killing” star Sofie Gråbøl playing opposite “Kon-Tiki” lead Pål Sverre Hagen, “The Shift’s” key talent credentials mark it out immediately as one of potential standout Scandinavian series of 2022.Selection for both Berlinale Series and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize, announced Feb.
2, merely confirms that promise.Sales company Beta Film shared a trailer with Variety just before the series’ presentation at the Göteborg Festival’s TV Drama Vision on Feb.
2.In “The Shift,” Gråbøl plays Ella, a head midwife at Denmark’s best maternity ward who secretly yearning for her own. She’s also having an affair with Norwegian paediatrician Jerry (Sverre Hagen) whose marriage is falling apart, a fact his religious community is not supposed to know.But work goes on, mercilessly for a short-staffed unit.
Ella delivers nine children in one day in Ep. 1, then works a 26 hour-stint at one go in Ep. 3.The trailer captures much of the series’ charm, part courtesy of conceptual director Søren Balle (Netflix’s“The Rain” and “Equinox” and Adam Price’s “Ride Upon the Storm”) who directed the first three episodes.The set is remarkable, based around a wild garden courtyard surrounded by wood-framed glass walls, allowing depth to reception scenes and a rich play of reflections in shots from the patio.The maternity ward is a place of wonder but also pain, the trailer announces.
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