Nowadays you can buy the Carmen curl set for 25 to 50 euros. Now it's time to binge the fun Danish series Carmen Curlers made about this product. It is a wonderful, colorful, eight-part series. After years of dominance of heavy and gloomy drama series such as Herrens veje, the Danish public broadcaster now presents Carmen Curlers. A series suitable for a broad audience looking for relaxed viewing pleasure. You can say that this was a success. At a time when series are often dominated by intense plots and complex characters, Carmen Curlers welcomes a more light-hearted and accessible form of entertainment. The series was a big hit in Denmark.
The story is loosely inspired by the real-life entrepreneurial adventure of businessman Arne Bybjerg, who turned his electric hair curlers into a global export success in the 1960s. In Carmen Curlers the businessman is called Axel Byvang and is played by Morten Hee Andersen (Sygeplejeskolen). Once again he is excellent in his performance, in which he can come across as both charming and cynical, and it is never clear whether his character is crazy or genius.
That could be better
Three hours at the hairdresser under the hood dryer to get a hairstyle full of curls. This is what happened to the women around the Danish television salesman Axel Byvang in the early 1960s. This must be possible but better, faster and cheaper, the provincial entrepreneur from Aarhus thought. When he obtains the patent for an experimental curl set - which is still far from perfect and sometimes even catches fire - Byvang can start his project.
In addition to the story of Axel Byvang, we see the farmer's wife Birthe Windfeld, who will meet Axel Byvang later in the story, which will completely change her life. In addition, the story of hairdresser Frans is sometimes heartbreaking.
Important role for women
The women in the series are becoming increasingly influential. One of them comes up with the name of the product, another is responsible for the production schedule and when a French film star gets her hands on the product, she mentions the set in an interview with the fashion magazine Vogue, after which an international breakthrough is not far away. Without the input of women, Carmen Curlers would never have gotten off the ground.
The series is daringly constructed with flashbacks, sudden switches to black and white and even a strange synchronized dance that is integrated into the whole. These creative choices fit perfectly with the funky era of the 1960s, with references to The Beatles, women's rights and high-up ladies' hairstyles. But above all, there is a lot of speed and dynamics in the series.
It will be interesting to see how the series develops in the future, a third season has already been announced.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
