This 2022 Danish film creates psychological terror through the tiniest details and the smallest actions. How far would you let someone push your boundaries in order to satisfy social niceties?

Danish couple Bjorn and Louise, played by Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch respectively, are enjoying a vacation in Italy with their daughter Agnes, played by Liva Forsberg. They meet an eccentric Dutch couple named Patrick and Karin, played by Fedja can Huet and Karina Smulders. Patrick and Karin invite them for a weekend getaway at their remote house in the Netherlands. 

Bjorn is ready for another trip, but Louise is reluctant. Bjorn talks her around citing the social etiquette of accepting an invitation and how well their daughter Agnes got along with the other couples mute son Abel, played by Maria Damslev. Patrick informs them that Abel was born with a condition where his tongue is abnormally small and cannot speak. 

So far the film is just a travelogue of European couples enjoying Europe. I started to wonder where we were going with this one. Little did I realize that I was the frog in the proverbial pot of water. Just like the characters in the film I didn’t realize that the water was getting hotter beneath my feet. 

Once they arrive at the house in the Netherlands, things start to feel a little off. Louise is a vegetarian for moral reasons. When the met in Italy, Patrick was supportive of this decision. He praised her for her moral stance. Once they’re in Patrick’s home however, he coerces Louise into trying the meat he’s prepared. He bulldozes her objections, and she eats the meat to be polite. When she reminds him he’s a vegetarian he is disdainful of the diet and challenges her point of view and moral stance. 

Bjorn and Louise are unsettled further by Patrick’s mistreatment of his son Abel. However, the couple overlook it thinking it is a cultural difference and they should respect it. 

The next night, Patrick and Karin invite Bjorn and Louise to a restaurant for dinner. They assume the kids are coming to, but at the last minute Patrick reveals the babysitter Muhajid, played by Hichem Ycoubi. Again they apply just the right amount of passive aggressive social pressure and Bjorn and Louise allow their daughter to be left with this strange man. 

It’s around this point that I started to get on the films wavelength and realize that this couple was in too deep. They didn’t want to rock the boat or be rude to their hosts and have allowed their boundaries to be tested. I started to wonder how far would I go? I am an unfailingly polite person. If I was in someone’s home, what would they have to do to make me flee in terror? The film walks this line perfectly. The boundaries are tested and quickly the offense is withdrawn and apologies made, until the next test. 

At dinner Patrick and Karin order an exorbitant amount of food and begin making out and dancing erotically together. Bjorn and Louise try to follow suit. After dinner Patrick uses social trickery to make Bjorn pay for dinner. On the drive home, a seemingly drunk Patrick plays music too loud and drives wildly over the objections of Louise. 

Every element of this film is understated. The performances are real and lived in. The filmmaking is subtle and nuanced. Wide shots and medium shots establish space between characters and allow the social anxiety to play out in real time. As Patrick looks at the check and expresses alarm at the price, and Bjorn gently offers to help out with the bill, it all takes place in one long unbroken medium shot of the two men sharing a space together. Patrick gratefully accepts. Bjorn takes out his credit card and watches Patrick for the longest moment expecting him to take out his card as well. We have to sit in that moment with Bjorn. We watch. We wonder if Patrick is going to make a move. He doesn’t make a move, and the waiter takes Bjorn’s card. Bjorn resigns himself to paying for the whole meal. This whole interaction takes place in real time in a single unbroken shot. Without that single shot we would lose all the micro-expressions and the tiny little nuances of the performances. It’s great filmmaking that supports the acting and the story. 

I have been in the exact position as Bjorn once before. I paid for the full meal. I did exactly as Bjorn did. I succumbed to social pressure. Maybe that’s why I responded so strongly to the film. This is definitely a horror of social nuances which will not work for everyone. It is just as much about what isn’t said as what is said. It doesn’t sound particularly scary, but if you’re paying attention the screws will tighten to the point that you’ll be on the edge of your seat hoping these people get out of here safely. 

This is the spoiler zone. We’re going to break down the plot in detail. I highly recommend this film. Leave now so the story isn’t spoiled for you. If you have seen it let’s talk about it. 

After they get home from the dinner, Bjorn and Louise and feeling a certain way. They begin having sex. I like that the motivations for this are nuanced. They just watched their hosts get very intimate in the restaurant. They are feeling untethered because of the circumstances and want to feel closer. They were just in a very dangerous life and death drive home from the restaurant. I appreciate that the film acknowledges nuance in its characters instead of removing it or flattening them out. These are fully realized people. 

While they are copulating, Agnes begins calling to them. She is having trouble sleeping on her own in this house. They consider stopping their activities but decide that she needs to sleep on her own in her own bed. They finish and Louise goes to comfort Agnes, but Agnes isn’t in her bed. She goes looking for Agnes with increasing panic. She finally finds her in Patrick and Karin’s bed. Patrick is sleeping naked, and the image of their eight year old daughter in bed with a naked man and his wife is horrifying. 

Louise takes Agnes and demands that they leave. They are driving away when Agnes realizes she left her favorite stuffed animal behind. They debate going back for it, but finally Bjorn agrees to go back. It is a fateful decision and one I wish he didn’t make. Once back at the house Patrick and Karin manipulate and coerce Bjorn and Louise into staying. It’s a horrible scene. My stomach turns thinking about it. It induced such anxiety watching this couple manipulate these people so effectively. After all, if they had listened to poor Agnes she wouldn’t have ended up in Patrick’s bed. This kind of manipulation is just brutal to see. It’s also horrifying knowing how effective it would be. 

Bjorn and Louise are convinced to finish the weekend. Agnes and Abel have a dance they have prepared that they want to perform for everyone. As they perform, Patrick becomes increasingly angry and aggressive with Abel’s lack of talent. This culminates in him throwing a coffee cup at his son. 

This is hard to watch. Putting children in danger is always awful, but this scene in particular feels worse because of how realistic it is. It feels a little too real for comfort. 

That night Bjorn discovers a cabin behind the house. Once inside, he finds hundreds of suitcases, cameras, and vacation belongings. The walls are covered with photos with Patrick and Karin with various other couples on vacation. The photos reveal that Patrick and Karin have been luring couples with a single child to their home, killing the couple and claiming the child as their own. After a few years, they find another couple and exchange the kid for a new one. Patrick and Karin targeted Bjorn and Louise. They want Agnes. Bjorn finds Abel’s body floating in a pool dead. He packs up Agnes and Louise and flees. 

At this point the horror and doom is at hand. I was just so desperate for them to escape, but deep down I knew it was too late. Normally I hate stories about characters in situations without hope. I want my stories to have some antidote to the despair of life or at least a theme strong enough to combat the nihilism of the narrative. This movie works for me because of the choices the characters made. Bjorn and Louise had every chance to leave. They could have gotten themselves to safety at any time in the movie, but their tragedy is that they didn’t. And that’s the difference. This is tragedy not nihilism. Tragedy is when a character’s flaw or refusal to change leads to his own destruction. Nihilism tells us that nothing matters and nothing ever will. I hate nihilism. I like tragedy. 

Buckle up everyone it gets nasty from here. Bjorn and Louise’s car breaks down. Clearly Patrick tampered with it. He shows up to give them a ride. Once in Patrick’s car with Karin, the babysitter Muhajid shows up in a second car. He holds Agnes down while Karin cuts out her tongue. After this Agnes is taken away by Muhajid. Bjorn is beaten and they are driven to a quarry. 

Bjorn and Louise demand, “why are you doing this to us?” Patrick replies, “because you let me.” Those words are the most chilling I’ve heard in a horror movie in years. It haunts me. It’s so cold, brilliant, and awful. 

Bjorn and Louise are then stoned to death in the quarry. Next we see a despondent Agnes on vacation with Patrick and Karin as they target their next family of victims. 

Spilers over!

This movie is a social horror. It’s a demonstration of how scary people can be to one another and how scary it is when we let ourselves down. It shows how terrifying that frog in the pot of boiling water really is. I thought it was brilliant. The filmmaking, the script, the acting, A+ across the board. 

I’d highly recommend it. Just know that it will take time to get going. You are being lulled into a false sense of security at every moment in this movie. 

This was absolutely my cup of tea. A+