The eighteen-year-old Lilja visits Áróra and Grímur, her estranged grandparents, in the city as she undergoes auditions for an international art performance group. When her father, Magnús and his younger sister Vala, two of Áróra's and Grimur's four children, find out about Lilja’s stay in the family house, a sense of panic arises. When the family gathers in the home to celebrate Lilja’s acceptance into the art group, a dark secret emerges, and soon a seemingly normal family celebration turns into a horrifying tragedy that nobody could have foreseen.
Direction
Stefánsdóttir turns every family glance into a threat.
Acting
Elin Petersdottir's grandmother will haunt your dreams.
Cinematography
Icelandic interiors so sterile they feel infected.
Director
Helena Stefánsdóttir
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in Reykjavík's actual brutalist suburbs, using the city's eerie summer midnight sun to deny viewers any visual relief from tension.
The 'art group' audition mirrors the family's own performance of normalcy — both require Lilja to contort herself for an audience that will consume her.
IS
