Serena

North Carolina, 1929: the Cherokee Natives have been displaced for about a hundred years, the forests are being cleared and the timber company of the newly married Pemberton couple is flourishing. George and Serena have moved from Boston to the Smokey Mountains in order to profit from the growing hunger for timber on the American continent. The two prove to be extremely successful, with Serena in particular showing that she is her husband's equal in terms of courage and hard work. But the idyll is shattered when Serena learns that she is unable to have children. Jealousy of George's illegitimate son from a previous relationship grows. When environmentalists also try to protect the Pembertons' mining area and the government intervenes to lay claim to the land, the pressure grows considerably and causes the couple, and Serena in particular, to resort to increasingly unscrupulous means... Susanne Bier (Foreign Oscar 2011 for "Hævnen") has taken on the film adaptation of Ron Rash's novel, focusing on motifs of fear of loss, greed, grief and unbridled obsession. It is about the self-destructive, human nature that is reflected in the private sphere as well as in the exterior of the felled forests. The Danish director stages the looming disaster in the Appalachian Mountains in an unagitated yet unsettling way and contrasts it with longing shots of untouched nature. She is supported by a strong cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Rhys Ifans!