Flame & Citron | Telescope Film
Flame & Citron

Flame & Citron (Flammen & Citronen)

Critic Rating

(read reviews)

User Rating

  • Denmark,
  • Germany,
  • Norway,
  • France,
  • Sweden,
  • Finland,
  • Czech Republic
  • 2008
  • · 130m

Director Ole Christian Madsen
Cast Thure Lindhardt, Mads Mikkelsen, Stine Stengade, Peter Mygind, Mille Lehfeldt, Christian Berkel
Genre Drama, History, Thriller, Adventure

During Nazi occupation, two assassins in the Danish resistance take orders from a leader in direct contact with the Allies. One day they receive orders to kill Germans, and a target reveals that they are being used to settle private scores. They must navigate doubt and betrayal in order to survive and identify a double agent.

Stream Flame & Citron

What are critics saying?

100

San Francisco Chronicle by Walter Addiego

Though the material might lend itself to heavy-handedness, director Ole Christian Madsen is steady, and he gets fine performances from the two leads and Stengade.

90

The Hollywood Reporter

This searing, stylish account of World War II heroism from Denmark's Ole Christian Madsen avoids period realism, conveying the story of two heroes of the Danish resistance as a noir thriller, complete with shadowy alleys, double-crosses galore and the requisite femme fatale.

90

The Hollywood Reporter by Erica Abeel

This searing, stylish account of World War II heroism from Denmark's Ole Christian Madsen avoids period realism, conveying the story of two heroes of the Danish resistance as a noir thriller, complete with shadowy alleys, double-crosses galore and the requisite femme fatale.

83

Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer

A pretty good example of the kind of movie Hollywood used to turn out by the yard.

80

Village Voice

Flame & Citron is the film that the horribly overrated "Black Book" could have been, had Paul Verhoeven not indulged in the puerile reversals of sensitive Nazis and treacherous partisans.

80

Variety by Todd McCarthy

An absorbing, shades-of-gray look at home-front intrigue in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II. Ole Christian Madsen’s accomplished fourth feature plays out on a much larger canvas than he’s used previously and offers nuance and ambiguity in equal measure with violence and tragedy.

80

Village Voice by Ella Taylor

Flame & Citron is the film that the horribly overrated "Black Book" could have been, had Paul Verhoeven not indulged in the puerile reversals of sensitive Nazis and treacherous partisans.

80

Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan

A deeply involving look at people living permanently on the knife-edge of danger, Flame & Citron does more than radically rethink the World War II resistance drama. Its biggest accomplishment may be to make these historical conflicts and dilemmas seem surprisingly contemporary.

78

Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov

A drop-dead gorgeous period noir, rife with paranoia, femmes fatales, and good men inexorably sinking into the bloody mire and opaque texture of life (and death) during wartime.

75

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

One of the most expensive Danish movies ever made, and at times, it's glossy to a fault.

75

Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman

Director Ole Christian Madsen combines sharp scenes of moral inquiry with a few too many functional, oldfangled espionage twists.

75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kate Taylor

A satisfying thriller interestingly complicated by its study of character and compromise.

70

NPR by Mark Jenkins

The movie's storytelling can be as old-fashioned as its appearance. Some sequences are quick and messy, but others are grand and theatrical.

70

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

What Flame & Citron has are decent men taking down Nazis (always a crowd pleaser) and some appealing actors — notably Mr. Lindhardt, Mr. Mikkelsen and Christian Berkel as the head of the Copenhagen Gestapo.

70

Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern

If you're looking for an action thriller, this isn't it. The pace is deliberate, the tone is pensive, albeit punctuated by occasional violence, and the style is exceedingly lean; characters reveal themselves mainly through moral choices.

50

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

As directed by Ole Christian Madsen, the thriller features well-choreographed shootouts and assassinations. But the script is too melodramatic and complicated for its own good.