Bornholm

Film Screenplay and Second Novel by Rick Friend

In 2009, a film director’s mother spotted my son, then aged 9, arguing with me in Hampstead Post Office. This led to him gaining the lead role in a trailer for a Danish Short Film Festival, which was filmed at Pinewood studios and also being a guest of honour at the film festival on the island of Bornholm. When he and I arrived on the island my mind went into overdrive and I had the idea for Bornholm, a romantic drama and something of a tragicomedy.

I was particularly taken with the moodiness of the island and the light there, which is like no other I have seen. This created a somewhat surreal background for my story. The island is almost like one of the characters itself. It is the perfect backdrop for lead character Irina – on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The Baltic island setting, mostly in the town of Gudhjem, is contrasted in the narrative with more cosmopolitan locations in Copenhagen and London and with the characters themselves – the islanders’ ancestry lying with the fishermen and the workers of the fish-smoking factories, sharply contrasted with the advertising/commercials world of Copenhagen and the world of middle class Jewish North London.

In Bornholm I have tried to weave together a tapestry representing an intense, gritty and emotionally charged drama – at times funny but at others heart-wrenchingly poignant, where the key elements are guilt, recrimination, love and sensuality marrying the alliance of tragedy and humour in a truthful context.

Synopsis

Eddie Green is a bright 12 year-old North London schoolboy who loves the diabolo and playing the piano. When his young father Simon dies, the bottom drops out of Eddie’s world. His mother Irina Jørgensen, a beautiful Danish contemporary dancer turned actress living in Copenhagen, hears about the death of her former lover – a man she has had no contact with for 12 years – and she travels to London in order to attend the funeral and meet the son she gave up at birth. After the burial, Irina meets Eddie’s feisty Jewish grandparents and when she sets eyes on Eddie playing the piano she is not prepared for the emotional turmoil she now faces. Irina begs the boy’s grandparents to let him come over to Denmark to spend his summer holidays with her – in particular to her birthplace – the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. The grandparents reluctantly agree and Eddie sets off on a Scandinavian odyssey – first to Copenhagen where Irina desperately tries but fails to give him a good time – and then on to the strange and unfamiliar island of Bornholm, where he meets his grandparents Sanna and Poul and his other Danish relatives, who are the descendants of herring smokers and fishermen. Everyone gets on well with Eddie, except Irina, herself. She takes to solitary walks around the island, cutting an enigmatic and sad profile with her parasol, her despair growing with every day spent on the island.

It takes American tourist Ryan Doherty – an animator from New York – to turn their lives around. Ryan slowly befriends Eddie and in spite of their age difference, they embark on a series of antics together. As his friendship with Eddie develops he eventually falls for Irina…

Characters

Eddie Green

Eddie is a bright, 12 year-old North London schoolboy – mature and sensitive beyond his years, who loves the diabolo and playing the piano. When his young fun-loving father Simon dies suddenly, Saul’s world is shattered. Left in the care of his feisty but starchy Jewish grandparents he becomes sad and reclusive. Following his father’s funeral, Eddie meets Irina, the Danish mother he has never set eyes on before – a mother who gave him up at birth and his feelings towards her are angry and hostile. When Irina takes Eddie to the island of Bornholm for a holiday, Eddie finds that he cannot forgive her. On the island he meets the charismatic Ryan who brings him out of himself as the two of them behave like naughty kids together. Ryan turns the boy’s life around and Eddie eventually becomes forgiving to his mother.

Irina Jørgensen

Irina is a stunningly beautiful Danish contemporary dancer turned actress who lives in Copenhagen but hails from the small Baltic island of Bornholm. Quirky, unconventional and complex, Irina is her own worst enemy in terms of the violent and damaged men she chooses and leaves a trail of admirers but cannot find a deeper love. On the work front, Irina craves creative professional challenges but has to survive by doing hair lacquer commercials. Following the funeral of a former English lover, Simon, in London, and the meeting of her 12-year old son, Eddie, who she gave up at birth, Irina’s world is turned upside down. Troubled and guilt-ridden, she takes Eddie to Bornholm and desperately tries to connect with him but try as she may, she cannot. Everyone gets on with her son it seems except her. As her relationships with Eddie and her family crumble, Irina becomes a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, taking solitary walks around the island – always alone, a strange figure with a parasol. Ryan feels her pain and he tries to reach out to her…

Ryan Doherty

Handsome, compelling, extroverted and an incorrigible flirt with a twinkle in his eye, Ryan is a New York film animator – the son of a Jewish mother from the Bronx and an Irish American cop who owns a software factory. Ryan – on a journey of self-discovery – is spending a summer travelling around Europe in order to trace his family’s mixed cultural background and to get over a long-term relationship. Discovering that his grandfather was a native of Bornholm, he travels to the island to get in touch with his Danish roots. There he meets 12 year-old Eddie and the two immediately become friends, sharing pranks and antics. Good-natured and funny, Ryan helps Eddie to get over his father’s death and equally Eddie brings out the boy in Ryan. Their relationship is a big threat to Irina who is struggling to connect with Eddie herself. Like most of the islanders, Ryan finds Irina strange and difficult but as he becomes intrigued by her – he falls head over heels and in turn she succumbs to Ryan’s infectious charm.

Locations

The Baltic island location, mostly in the town of Gudhjem, is contrasted in the narrative with more cosmopolitan locations in Copenhagen and London and with the characters themselves – the islanders’ ancestry lying with the fishermen and the workers of the fish-smoking factories, sharply contrasted with the advertising/commercials world of Copenhagen and the world of middle class Jewish North London.