This Danish film is not a soap opera as its title might suggest, though it comes close in its way. Instead, this is the story of a sad transvestite prostitute named Veronica (David Dencik) who becomes the neighbor of a surly beauty-shop owner named Charlotte (Tryne Dyrholm) who has left her successful physician boyfriend. At first, sensitive, soap-opera-addicted Veronica and abrasive, opinionated Charlotte can't stand each other, but a suicide attempt brings them closer and soon they're drinking, fighting, and bonding, and the question arises as to whether or not they will fall in love; they are also waiting anxiously for the letter that's supposed to arrive with news about Veronica's gender-reassignment surgery.

Directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen, the drama mixes realistic dialogue and drab settings with a loose "cliffhanger" fantasy structure that helps offset the emptiness and desperation of these characters' existence. True to the Dogme 95 tenets, the film features little or no soundtrack music, a washed-out color palette, and naturalistic performances. Fans of stark Nordic character dramas and/or transgendered sex character studies like those of Pedro Almodovar will want to give this one a try. SOAP screened at the Berlin Film Festival and is presented with English subtitles.