Lena and Johan are clearly in love with each other and are ready to solve the problems in their marriage. Hyperactive children, sleepless nights, and arguments exacerbated by exhaustion and the routine that comes with getting through one peaceful day have driven the once passionately-in-love Swedish couple apart. In conversations with the director, who has moved into their apartment, the two reveal what having responsibility for each other means to them, and the different manifestations, aggregates, and forms that love can take. With a sigh, they conclude that family life is like combing for lice, both literally and figuratively.

Documentary filmmaker Maud Nycander met Lena and Johan at the kindergarten that their children attended. At the time, she had just finished her studies at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts and was starting her career as a freelance artist. Nycander knew that she wanted to make a documentary portrait of family life when one day, while watching their children playing in the sandbox, Lena, her soon-to-be heroine turned around and asked: “Would you make a film about us?” For almost 20 years, Lena and Johan, whose separation and therapy she documented in 2022, have been among the director’s closest friends.