A Dickensian Copenhagen in 1919. The young and poor seamstress Karoline searches for her missing husband, lost since the war. She seeks help from the head of the sewing factory, but this leads to a sudden, passionate affair. When her employer rejects her and she loses her job, Karoline is left alone with an illegitimate child. She befriends Dagmar, the owner of an adoption agency and candy shop, who helps the downtrodden, but this charitable establishment has a darker side. 

The film begins with lush strokes of black ink, hinting at a humble Cinderella story, but quickly shifts to psychological horror reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm. Swedish director Van Horn’s otherworldly, repulsively beautiful film gained an odious reputation in Cannes’ Main Competition. It is sophisticated auteur cinema that strips the genre to its bare bones and depicts the social classes in a death spiral. Above all, it is an aesthetically clever interpretation of the Danish serial killer Dagmar Overby, played by Danish grand dame Trine Dyrholm. This harrowing film experience is one of the most defining films of this year, dissecting themes of sisterhood, solidarity, and female autonomy with surgical precision.