A Fortunate Man

Set in late nineteenth-century Denmark, the film follows Peter Sidenius, a gifted young engineer from a devout family in rural Jutland. He leaves home for Copenhagen to study engineering, largely to defy his strict clergyman father, and reinvents himself there as Per. In the capital he moves among the wealthy elite, becomes involved with the affluent Jewish Salomon family and courts their eldest daughter, Jakobe, while devising an ambitious engineering scheme for western Denmark. His pride and his unresolved childhood weigh on him as his prospects grow.

Bille August directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Anders Frithiof August, with Karin Trolle and Thomas Heinesen producing. It is the twelfth of the fifteen films August has directed in chronological order, arriving between 55 Steps and The Pact. Esben Smed plays Per, Katrine Greis-Rosenthal plays Jakobe, and Benjamin Kitter, Julie Christiansen, Rasmus Bjerg and Ole Lemmeke are among the credited cast of fifty-one.

The drama runs 162 minutes and was released in August 2018, a Danish production made with Austrian partners. On IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 8,400 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 out of 10 from a much smaller 177 votes. A critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from seven reviews places it above both audience scores.