![]() First, with Patrick feigning to ignore Louise’s vegetarian diet and Karin mandating that Agnes sleeps in the same room as Abel. There are no jump scares here, just awkward silences and telling looks.Īlmost immediately, the Dane’s tolerance to disrespect is tested. Since Tafdrup and cinematographer Erik Molberg Hansen shoot the interactions within the home with the unshowy natural lighting akin to a social realist drama, one might at times forget the genre. In ordinary fashion, the Danish clan reconnects with Patrick, his vivacious wife Karin ( Karina Smulders) and their young son Abel ( Marius Damslev), born with a condition that prevents from speaking. The toxic insidiousness only grows in impact the more time they spend together after an eager Bjørn accepts Patrick’s invitation to visit them in the Dutch countryside, despite his wife Louise’s ( Sidsel Siem Koch) initial hesitation. That Patrick’s subliminal infiltration of Bjørn’s receptive psyche occurs via inconspicuous remarks and gaslighting tactics but never evident dialogue speaks to the exceptional nimbleness of the Tafdrups’ writing. Even back home in Copenhagen, Bjørn remains unable to shake the unspoken desire to leave passiveness behind that his new pal awoke in him. An unfilled victim of societal conventions who always plays by the rules, the pleasant Danish father and husband finds in Patrick a role model of assertive masculinity who does as he pleases and speaks his mind without restraint. Lured by Patrick’s nonchalant confidence, Bjørn develops a platonic attraction. With an ego boost from a man he immediately respects, a shit-eating grin crosses Bjørn’s face. The Dane’s feat: finding a plush rabbit that belongs to his daughter Agnes ( Liva Forsberg). In one of their earliest meetings, Patrick, a rugged Dutch charmer, makes a good impression when he unironically compliments Bjørn, from Denmark, on his heroism. The two men first met months prior in Tuscany while on vacation with their respective families. From Danish actor-turned-director Christian Tafdrup, who co-wrote the screenplay with brother Mads Tafdrup, this brilliantly bleak cautionary tale about letting others cross one’s boundaries for the sake of civility evokes both the male anxiety of Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s “ Force Majeure” and the malevolence of Michael Haneke’s “ Funny Games.”
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