Referred to as the film that launched the cult of the brooding Nordic palette known as Nordic Noir, this polar, psychological thriller by Skjoldbjærg is one of the finest examples of the genre. We now speak of Nordic Noir as a brand, but this turn-of-the-millenium piece has left its mark not only on European film but also on the craft of Hollywood masters such as David Fincher, Christopher Nolan, and others – it is the “Crime and Punishment” of its time.

Tromsø, the Arctic Circle. The Swede Engström and the Norwegian Vik are investigating a murder of a seventeen-year-old girl. Everything unfolds and will continue to unfold in light – these are the months of the polar day –, and the pasts of both detectives are illuminated. One of them is compromised in the investigation of another case and tormented by insomnia, the other struggles with memory loss. When it appears that the suspect may have given themselves away, the caustic light reveals yet further secrets. The death of the girl becomes Engström’s obsession and his doom – there are no shadows, no half-truths, no unknowns…

What layers of meaning did Skjoldbjærg choose to work with in his directorial debut? A sleek, progressive society beneath whose polished surface the perverse lies hidden. The horrifying that emerges dramatically from the light of the polar day. A noir inheritance to which the features of daylight are innovatively lent. The director – whose more recent work Pyromaniac (2016) was selected for the Feature Film Competition at Riga IFF – has created a chilling, resonant puzzle of memory, identity, and moral landscape. The film premiered at Cannes, catapulted the career of Stellan Skarsgård, one of Europe’s best-known actors, who portrayed the detective anti-hero, drew global attention to the “noir” of icy fog and snow, and persuaded Nolan to create a remake of the thriller, where the characters were played by other classics – Al Pacino and Robin Williams.