'Terribly Happy': a wickedly entertaining Danish thriller

Henrik Ruben Genz's diabolic comedy "Terribly Happy" assures us that yes, something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark, or least in the rural Danish county of South Jutland. From the moment the camera surveys Skarrild, a desolate backwater in the county's soggy flatlands, you sense that this is a village of the damned.

But "Terribly Happy" is not a horror movie but a witty, expertly constructed psychological thriller. As Skarrild's suspicious residents eye Robert (Jakob Cedergren), the town's new marshal dispatched from Copenhagen, they convey contempt and hostility. A reproach — "That's not the way we do things" — directed at Robert signals danger.

In a nearby bog, grim vigilante justice is dispensed, as guilty parties are forced at gunpoint to wade into the muck until they sink.

Robert's troubles begin when a teenager is caught shoplifting, and Robert is advised to smack the boy hard in the face. A more serious challenge is an appeal for help by Ingelise (Lene Maria Christensen), the battered wife of the town bully, Jorgen (Kim Bodnia).

As the story narrows into a cat-and-mouse game played by Robert and Jorgen after an accident, "Terribly Happy" becomes an allegory of human frailty and corruption, of loneliness and the need to belong. But "Terribly Happy" doesn't demand to be taken too seriously. Beneath the poker face of this wickedly entertaining film lurks an insinuating smirk on the verge of widening into a grin.