If you can get your head round a premise so grim it makes EastEnders look a model of emotional restraint, then there's a lot to enjoy here.

Young lovers Cecilie (Richter) and Joachim (Lie Kaas) have everything going for them when a devastating car accident appears to rob them of the future.

Joachim, now a quadraplegic, is consumed by destructive self-pity from his hospital bed and bitterly rejects his uncomprehending fiancee.

She finds herself striking up a rapport with hospital doctor Niels (Mikkelsen), who also happens to be the husband of Marie (Steen) - the driver who hit Joachim.

Niels is happily married with three children...but finds himself drawn to Cecilie as they bond over an apple in the hospital canteen.

What he initially regards as therapy for the rejected Cecilie transforms into something personal and he begins lying to his wife about his new friendship.

It does sound a bit like Albert Square at its most depressing, but Bier's lightness of touch and excellent ensemble playing lifts it out of a potential emotional quagmire.

For all the grainy realism, the dogme style is a refreshing contrast to the sugar-coated rom-coms coming out of Hollywood.

And there's plenty of humour too, especially a po-faced bedding warehouse salesman, who tries to sell Cecilie and Niels the 'Ferrari' of mattresses.

Niels also gets upbraided by his wife for taking up with a woman "who's not much older than the shirt you're wearing."

All the supporting performances are first-rate, particularly Steen as Niels' cuckolded wife, torn between familial loyalty and rage at her partner's betrayal.

It's poignant but powerful stuff. Open your heart to Open Hearts.

Tim Evans