Home Sweet Home Review: Emotional Danish Drama

Home Sweet Home features masterful cinematography and a moving performance from Jette Søndergaard, capturing the harsh realities of being a home care nurse.

Jørgen Johansson’s cinematography is astute and masterful, while Søndergaard’s performance embodies the gravitas of the film’s subject. It’s a beautifully made, slow-burn story which beckons viewers to confront the realities of elderly life, as well as a call to appreciate those professionals who care deeply for those unable to care for themselves.

Though Home Sweet Home focuses on Sofie, tracking her optimism, empathy, and mental trauma throughout her daily work, the story is constructed well to present various perspectives on life and the elderly. Some home care nurses don’t care about their patients, while others are heedless when it comes to enforcing company policies. Some of the patients’ family members are kind, while others berate the home care workers. Some patients are welcoming, while others are bitter. As the film progresses, Sofie’s experience with these diverse sentiments about home care form her. Sometimes, she becomes hardened to the job; other times, she enjoys it. All of this has a toll on her personal life.

It’s hard to overstate how powerful Søndergaard’s performance is. Her subtle unraveling over the course of this film is reflected in curt remarks to her 10-year-old daughter, in a numbness that overtakes her daily job duties, and in a devastating thousand-yard stare as heavy as that in Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Her line delivery and delicate facial expressions bring the viewer into the distressing experience home care workers face. This is further supported by a screenplay that seamlessly weaves together the plot points of Sofie’s personal and professional experiences. However, I would have appreciated further development with Sofie’s relationship with her family. While that dynamic is used sparingly for the purposes of the main plot, more scenes integrating her interactions with her ex-husband and daughter would have lent to a holistic look at her life outside of work.

Home Sweet Home is not an experience for the faint of heart. It shows, in detail, the medical trials which older people must endure, not sparing viewers the realities of aging and death. Despite being intimately honest about the supposedly ugly sides of aging, it is charitable. The bitter and unfair truths of elderly life cause compassion to well up in the viewer. One goal of filmmaking is garnering awareness. In this, Home Sweet Home is equally honest and honorable, shining a light on an experience with which many will resonate or undergo in time.

People don’t always age with grace. To be a home care nurse is to subject oneself to the isolation and pain that patients ceaselessly endure. For the sake of caring for people in her community, Sofie serves others tirelessly, often putting everyone else’s needs above her own. It’s a grim and depressing job, but Home Sweet Home highlights how vital it is. This is purposeful filmmaking, and the cast and crew deliver an astounding story sure to move the audience deeply.

Home Sweet Home (Hjem Kaere Hjem) premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. Read our Berlin Film Festival reviews and our list of 20 films to watch at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival!