Once the brightest teacher at his high school, Martin has fallen into a seemingly permanent funk. He's barely present in his classes and his marriage is slowly dissolving. At a birthday celebration, three of his colleagues cajole Martin into boozing along with them. A party-animal, Nikolaj, tells them about a philosopher who argued humans are not born with enough alcohol in their blood. As an 'experiment,' he proposes they all drink constantly throughout the day to maintain the 'proper' blood-alcohol level of 0.05%. Initially the drinking seems beneficial. But as the experiment is pushed further, issues that have been simmering for years come to the fore and the men are faced with a choice: reckon with their behaviour or continue on the same course.
"The film explores the Danes' drinking habits. It's a recognition of the fact that alcohol throughout history has helped bring about great results. Churchill won the world war while being plastered. General Grant was drunk all day. Hemingway wrote immortal novels also under the influence of alcohol. /.../ I'm not passing judgement on alcohol. My film tries to explore alcohol. It fascinates me that this substance captured in a bottle can open up a life and also kill a person." (Thomas Vinterberg)