The Guilty

Shortly into The Guilty’s brisk 85-minute running time, we know that something is about to happen. Its protagonist Asger (brilliantly played by Jakob Cedergren) is held in a tight close-up as he fields calls on the Copenhagen emergency services line. The Danish film’s opening moments have an immediacy to it. One of these calls is going to ensnare Asger, and have very real consequences. We watch breathlessly, waiting for the call to come.

In the meantime, we deduce a few things: Asger is good at his job, but not very interested in it, and this line of police work isn’t permanent; in fact, it’s his last night working in emergency services, and he will return to active duty in the exalted and oft-mentioned “tomorrow”, after a court hearing decides his fate (the spectre of this hearing looms large, but we only learn as much as we need to when it is required). Most importantly, when it comes to the incoming calls, Asger, like his fellow emergency services workers, must obtain an address – an exact location – from those calling him, in order to help them.

Then the call comes. A woman identified as Iben – by the computer system from her mobile number – is put through to Asger. At first, he thinks it’s a prank call, for all her reluctance to speak. But then he realises that something is wrong. Finally confirming his suspicions by asking Iben the chilling question, “Does the person you’re with know who you’re calling?” he deduces that she’s been abducted. He quickly reports the abduction to the North Zealand police department, who are closest to the transmission from Iben’s call, but as with his earlier calls, he can’t help Iben to the full extent of the law without her providing him an address. Hamstrung by this, he needs to think outside of the box, and uses Iben’s personal information to call her house, where he discovers her children have been left alone in the house, and that Iben’s abductor is none other than her ex-husband and father of her children. The tension only escalates from there.

What follows is a tense cat-and-mouse thriller; surprising, when all of the action is taking place in the same room over the phone. Excellent voice-acting by Jessica Dinnage as Iben, and our proximity with Asger ensures this tension is never alleviated. We’re as on the edge of our seat as Asger is, and we learn information as he does. The film particularly soars when it unceremoniously up-ends the story with an excellent twist, developing it into as much a dramatic character study as a nail-biting thriller.

For all of its dramatic turns, however, The Guilty is smartly evident of efficient, taut filmmaking. Director Gustav Möller only shows you what’s important: in this film, nothing is extraneous; we barely see the other characters populating the emergency services centre. What’s important is Asger, and his journey through the film. He’s the first and last character we see, but from start to finish we see two different men at opposite poles. A remarkable feat for such a short running time, The Guilty is a definite must-watch. The less you know the better, and be prepared to be surprised.

The Guilty
In cinemas now
View trailer