Following her towering performance in the Nordic Council Film Prize nominated film Queen of Hearts, Trine Dyrholm has taken on a new challenging role as a mother, who goes to war during the WWI conflict, dressed as a man, to protect her mentally-disabled son Kalle (Sylvester Byder), called up to fight.

Heading to the front disguised as ’Private Julius Rasmussen’, Erna has to face not only the enemy but also the love of her life when she meets the blacksmith Anton (Anders W. Berthelsen) in the trenches. Ulrich Thomsen plays country officer Meyer who enrols Kalle against Erna’s wishes. 

The ambitious drama is adapted by Bo Hr. Hansen from Erling Jepsen’s eponymous novel. This is Genz’s third screen adaptation of a Jepsen book after his acclaimed Terribly Happy (2008) and Excuse Me (2012). 

The film is produced by Birgitte Hald and Nynne Selin Eidnes of Nimbus Film, with support from the Danish Film Institute, TV2 Denmark, FilmFyn, TV4, Estonian Film Institute, Tartu Film Fund, Belgian Film Institute, Wallimage and Creative Europe Media. 

Scanbox Entertainment will handle the domestic release set for September 2020.

Filming will be split between Denmark, Belgium and Estonia.