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Soon, you will have watched your very last Borgen-episode. Birgitte Nyborg will be gone forever. Luckily, there´s some Sidse Babett Knudsen for you on the internet.

To ease the parting pain: Some substantial Sidse-interviews, fun facts, fashion shots and movie recommendations – and at the bottom of the page: A girl crush extended version bonus track.

1. BORGEN REVISITED

You may start by watching this hour-long  behind-the-scenes from the second season:


A lot about Borgen, not so much about Mrs Knudsen. However, there´s a key statement near the end: “I decide who gets close to me”. There´s really not a lot of Sidse Babett Knudsen “up close and personal” on the internet. I´ll get back to that.

Borgen has been exported to more than 60 countries (I´ll get back to that too), and has won several award. This is how happy Adam Price & company get when they win the BAFTA. Sidse Babett has a nice dress – and something stuck in her eye:

Following the award show, they go back to Denmark, and Sidse Babett does a rare BAFTA-interview on the danish Aftenshowet (DR). (Before this there are very very few live-/live-on-tape interviews with her on the internet):

SBK Aftenshowet 2

The Borgen-actors are actors. They don´t really wish they ruled danish politics, the newspaper Ekstrabladet revealed in December 2012. This clip is from the press briefing at the launch of season 3. (If you enjoyed the way Sidse Babett kind of have to give birth to every line as she says them in the Bafta-video, how she stares just a bit too long into the air and waves her hands, you´ll probably appreciate this clip too):

2. The Prime Minister on tour 

Sidse Babett Knudsen loves to be an actress, but she doesn´t want to be a celebrity. When Borgen hits Europe, she still has to go on promo tours. She´s being asked a lot of strange questions: Did Helle Thorning-Schmidt become prime minister in Denmark because of Borgen? Is Borgen a sucess because the main caracter is a woman? Will you pleeeease make a fourth season? etc. She herself has closed the book on Birgitte Nyborg, and dreams about working abroad or starring a period drama wearing a fancy Downton Abbey-dress.

She goes to France. Young Knudsen lived in Paris for five years to study acting. That´s how she became so beautiful in french;-):

In February 2013 Sidse puts on her tartan suit and sets off for Scotland. There, they believe she´s the Danish Prime Minister:

Sidse BBC

Sidse talks about scandinavian drama on BBC

The Scots go wild, and have a lot of questions about scottish politics. What do you think about scottish independence? A bit of acting skills comes in handy.

In Edinburgh they make the female deputy PM do the interview:

sbk deputy pm

Summit in Edinburgh. Deputy PM Nicola Sturgeon gets an autograph on her box set.

In Belgium in march, they also believe her to be the danish PM. Mrs Knudsen meets, among others, a minister of transportation, a spindoctor and a political journalist. Everyone talks very Belgian about politics. Sidse has got the translator in her ear and looks stunning (and stunned).

SBK Reyers Laat

Reyers Laat. The presenter unfortunately concludes the interview by calling her a c**t.

The scandinavian interviews are more fun. This is my favorite. Meyerheim says he´s tried for years getting her on his show. It finally works out after he meets her at a private party 2012. They talk about her growing up in Africa, her part time job in Paris (in currency exchange), and the highlight of the interview is when he, referring to some old newspaper articles stumbles over his words and says:

The word sexsjikane (sexual harassment) is closely associated with your body

SBK Meyerheim

The talkshow Meyerheim, where Sidse Babett Knudsen once and for all disproves being prone to sexual harassment, but explains that the non-harasser was a Norwegian film director.

And then, she finally visits the number one Norwegian/Swedish talkshow Skavlan. This is what you look like when Fredrik Skavlan ask you if it´s “next stop Hollywood”:

Created by http://imaginaryhat.tumblr.com

3. “SEE THE DRAMATIC FASHION TRANSFORMATION!”

We are leaving Borgen, and it´s time for the tabloid breather of this blog post. This is what Sidse Babett Knudsen used to look like at parties in the past (photo showing two of the better outfits):

SBK rare klær

Screenshot from billedbladet.dk

This is her now (click for gallery):

red dress: picture taken right before borgen didn´t win the emmy, http://www.zimbio.com
golden dress: TV-festival in monaco 2012 (where sidse was supposed to sit next to prince albert, but got there late)
pink dress: BAFTA
black dress: No, you´re right, this is not from a party, but illustrates my point. Photo from a movie starish-shoot HERe.

Do not fire the new stylist.

4. Other talents

Mrs Knudsen has been famous in Denmark ever since her movie debut in 1997, Lets get lost. Most people outside Denmark know her only as Birgitte Nyborg, but she also knows how to sing:

..playing with language:

…and being silly:

SBK kylling

From Drengen de kaldte kylling, a strange childrens series on dr.dk. Sidse has frankfurtes down her bra, puts marshmallows in her nose and plays Grease.

She combines the above talents in Søren Østergaard internationale tivoli varieté (ca 2006):

5. Sidse Babett Knudsen Backlist

You should watch more Sidse Babett. Some of her earlier movie are available on eg. http://www.gucca.dk, http://www.cdon.no and on Netflix. My top three:

1. After the Wedding. Academy Award nominee. Mads Mikkelsen. Weddings and deaths. “Kurt Wallander” is in it. Say no more. Available on (norwegian) Netflix.

2. Let´s get lost. Improvised pre-dogma movie that´s really about nothing, but then again about everything. A very young Sidse demonstrates what jealousy looks like. The movie received several awards, and Sidses debut includes a famous scene about fellatio:

3. Blå Mænd/Take the Trash. Sidse Babett Knudsen plays lesbian Lotte, who works at a recycling center, and has too much imagination. Surprisingly good for a silly comedy, and available on (norwegian) Netflix. Blooper:

In addition, you should consider watching Den eneste ene (The One and Only), where Sidse is beautiful, and maybe Parterapi, where she seems to be casted more or less in the role of herself.

6. Girl crush extended version bonus track

A short appendix. Sidse Babett Knudsen never talks publicly about her private life. When asked, she simply responds “I never discuss it”, like here. Totally acceptable, but not very common, and not quite feasible.

Some years ago, she said some intelligent things about privacy to the danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende. They named the article “-Jeg er utryg ved kernefamilien”. (In english something like: I wouldn´t be comfortable living in a traditional family setting) The journalist also makes room for this gay-speculative paragraph, straight from the eighties (And not correct, as she has got a kid):

For det er en undren, som ind imellem bliver luftet: Hun er smuk, vittig og intelligent. Hvorfor har hun så ikke mand og børn? Måske fordi tanken skræmmer hende. Eller i hvert fald ikke tænder hende.

(Basically: “Why hasn´t she married? Perhaps the idea frightens her, or doesn´t turn her on”) Well, perhaps better to ask the internet, although the crowdsourcing seems rather fragile here:

Gay-o-meter-SBK

Or you can look for small words, all the way down into a question about karaoke in an interview on Gaffa.dk or in a quote in  The Big Issue:

Hvilken sang vil du vælge på karaokebaren?
– Det må næsten blive sådan noget, hvor en meget gammel fuld mand synger om sin kærlighed til en ung kvinde.

She added that she fell in love with Liz Taylor and Vivien Leigh when she was very young, “glamorous women with twisted souls, big passions, big dreams and lies.

Anyway. The lesbians don´t find that question too important, they just:

Sidse Babett, that one was for you!

(Linda P sings Sex is on fire on Zulu Awards 2012. (Watch the very last seconds.)

Please leave a comment! 🙂