Den skyltige (The Guilty) (2018)

Directed by: Gustav Möller | 85 minutes | thriller | Actors: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi, Johan Olsen, Jacob Lohmann, Katinka Evers-Jahnsen, Jeanette Lindbæk, Simon Bennebjerg, Laura Bro, Morten Suurballe, Guuled Abdi Youssef, Caroline Løppke, Peter Christofferson, Nicolai Wendelboe,, Morten Thun Maria Gersby, Anders Brink Madsen

Due to an incident in his position as a police officer, Asger Holm was temporarily transferred to the control room of the Danish emergency center in ‘Den Skyltige’. Most of the phone calls he receives are not very big. Especially on this night out. A case of too many drugs or booze here, a harmless theft there. Holm (Jacob Cedergren) is visibly out of place. He not only insults his colleagues on the work floor, but also the frequent callers he gets on the line. The forced work rotation is a matter of sitting out the time and then being able to continue on the same footing.

But then, towards the end of his shift, the phone rings again. After some silence, he hears the soft voice of a woman. “Honey,” the voice calls Holm repeatedly. At first he suspects that he is talking to someone again who has taken too much from the pot of pleasure-enhancing substances. However, just before he wants to hang up, he hears a male voice in the background. And then the penny drops immediately. The woman cannot speak freely, but is apparently under duress from the man in the background.

Holm plays along with the woman’s thoughtful game. By pretending to have her daughter on the phone, he learns that the man has stolen her from the house. On his computer, he can see exactly where they are driving based on telephone radiation. They drive in a white van, so the voice can just give Holm before the man gets too suspicious and she has to hang up. If he passes that information on to the on-duty police department and a white van is tracked down, the case appears to be resolved. Unfortunately, in the darkness of the setting sun, the wrong van was stopped. No trace of the kidnapped woman.

It’s the start of a puzzle quest that keeps the headstrong Holm constantly glued to the phone. Because the camera constantly remains at its side, the viewer is also automatically involved in the puzzle. This is reinforced by the sensory imagery. ‘Den skyltige’ regularly uses close-ups of ears, eyes and mouth. The intuitiveness of this is projected in great detail on the viewer. Because it is also not clear to the viewer what is always taking place on the other side of the telephone line, the film manages to increase the tension extremely effectively. When that incident from the past also comes to the surface more and more, the attention can no longer be removed. What starts as a fairly conventional Scandinavian thriller, therefore, ends in a compelling joust in which every second counts and both Holm and the spectator are regularly misled right up to the end.