Dragonflies Review

Eddie (Kim Bodnia) is a fat, bearded loner living in an isolated house in the country with his new bride, the beautiful but fragile Maria (Maria Bonnevie). Eddie seems to have an idyllic existence, yet the arrival of Kullman (Mikael Persbrandt), a face from Eddie's murky past, threatens to destroy the newlyweds' happiness.

by Nick Dawson |
Published on
Release Date:

04 Jul 2003

Running Time:

111 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Dragonflies

Co-scripted by Nikolaj Frobenius (who wrote Insomnia) and director Marius Holst, this largely improvised, low-budget thriller exhibits the same understanding of landscape and insecurity as Roman Polanskiís similarly-themed Knife In The Water.

Bound together by emotional scars, Kim Bodnia and girlfriend Maria Bonnevie eke out a simple existence beside a country lake, until their relationship is imperilled once Mikael Persbrandt arrives to ask his old partner-in-crime for help in exacting revenge on the individual who landed him in jail.

Director Marius Holst's film bases itself on the oldest story in the world, as Eddie and Maria/Adam and Eve try to avoid being driven out of paradise by the deceiving evil of snake-in-the-grass Kullman/Satan.

Hollywood always tackles this plot set-up with a complete lack of restraint yet, if anything, Holst holds back too much, with both the script and the look of the film being decidedly drab. While the escalation of suspense as the action progresses is pleasingly understated, its inability to build on this ultimately lets the film down badly.

Persbrandt teeters between charmer and psychotic, and despite the occasional implausible moment, the action remains unnerving and tense.
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