Lamento

How does love turn into hate? In a gripping stream of consciousness, Lamento traces the life cycle of a couple—two young artists, she a writer, he a theater director—as they meet, fall in love, become a couple, start a family, and watch their love slowly begin to crack until the man eventually drifts away. From the woman’s perspective, Madame Nielsen empathetically depicts two people’s passionate search for love, security, and family—and how the man’s restlessness ultimately leads to the end of the relationship.

Madame Nielsen is perhaps the most dazzling figure on the current Scandinavian literary scene. Born in 1963, she has fascinated audiences since the 1990s under her first pseudonym, Claus Beck-Nielsen, with her art installations, plays, and music. In doing so, she has consistently blurred the boundaries between art and life. Claus Beck-Nielsen lived as a homeless person for a year, staged his own funeral in Copenhagen, and ultimately transformed himself into Madame Nielsen, who has since enchanted Europe as a writer, musician, and performing artist.