Philip, an Englishman living in Denmark, is a lonely, middle-aged widower and estranged single father. Ida is a Danish hairdresser, recuperating from chemo therapy, who’s just been left by her husband for a younger woman, Tilde. The fates of these two bruised souls are about to intertwine as they embark for Italy to attend the wedding of Patrick and Astrid, Philip’s son and Ida’s daughter.

I wanted to make a film about vulnerable people; about the things in life we’d rather suppress but, if depicted with humour, might lift our spirits. In Ida and Philip we found main characters whose vulnerability carried both the weight of the subject matter and the lightness of a humorous touch. We transported them to the most romantic place imaginable, alongside a host of comedic characters. We used humour and romance as means, not of softening their hardship, but of demarcating it more clearly, to allow the contrasting universes to emphasize each other. That way we could portray each of our characters, in all their fortune and misfortune, with the precision and tenderness they deserve.