Atmospheric but unresolved drama pits a seedy academic against his ill-used wife, uneasily staying by him as he faces a rape charge
E
xpectations are raised high, but not satisfyingly met, in this initially intriguing and certainly atmospheric Scandi thriller that ranges from Sweden to Poland and Exmoor in England; it teases hints of Gone Girl and Patricia Highsmith. Screenwriter-producer Michèle Marshall has adapted 2014 novel The Living and the Dead in Winsford by veteran Swedish crime writer Håkan Nesser, and Caroline Ingvarsson makes her feature directing debut.
The scene is the stylish home of a Swedish power couple. Maria (Mirja Turestedt) is the presenter of an popular TV talkshow, and she is married to the older Magnus (Thomas W Gabrielsson), a star academic with a drinking problem and a seedy reputation for infidelity. Maria is a former student of Magnus and has, in fact, surpassed him intellectually, now faintly despising herself for her middlebrow job as well as for editing and almost secretly co-writing papers for Magnus, who grumpily relies on her help. But Maria despises herself still more for standing by Magnus despite a rape charge against him. With an ugly, boorish defiance, Magnus intends to brazen it out legally and claim consent; in her heart, Maria does not believe him.
