Peter må vente

"Being a housewife is a profession like any other," emphasizes the speaker in this film, which is about how to keep a house in the 1940s. The newlywed Lene is unfortunately completely hopeless about it. She burns the food on, makes crooked press folds in her trousers and is rooted in the accounts. Her husband Peter gradually becomes more and more impatient, and eventually he takes his good clothes and leaves. The whole world falls for Lene. Something must be done! Time is rewound so that Lene can have time to train as a housewife before she gets married. Meanwhile, Peter has to wait in church.

Directed by Svend Aage Lorentz, Peter må vente leans on a strong ensemble — Jytte Ibsen, Ebbe Neergaard, Poul Clemmensen — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 1949.