A customs officer who can smell fear develops an unusual attraction to a strange traveler while aiding a police investigation which will call into question her entire existence.
Tina, who has grotesque, almost animal-like physical features, has always felt self-conscious about her looks. Regardless, she has: a live-in boyfriend, Roland, a dog trainer, at her isolated house in the woods, although they have never had sex, and Tina's father, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's, believing he is solely using her; the unconditional love and support of her father; a small group of friends; and the admiration of her bosses and coworkers in her job as a customs agent at the airport, as she is literally able to "smell" human emotions, especially guilt and fear. It is using that innate ability that she stops a seemingly straight-laced person entering the country, he who was found to be carrying a memory card containing child pornography. As such, her immediate supervisor, Agneta, places her on a small investigative unit to discover the producers of this material. Tina is surprised when she is found to be incorrect about another person going through customs, Vore, ...Written by
Huggo
In the end credits, "Stockholms Hamnar" (Stockholm Harbors) is misspelled as "Stockholms Hamner". See more »
Quotes
[last lines]
Tina:
I don't see the point of evil.
Vore:
So you want to be human?
Tina:
I don't want to hurt anyone. Is it human to think that way?
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Tina (Eva Melander) works as a Swedish border agent. She has animal-like features that include the ability to successfully detect fear, guilt, and shame in troublesome border crossers. As the film progresses, she is asked to use her special abilities to expose a child pornography operation. During this time, she also meets another human with animal-like characteristics.
Melander is in almost every scene and she more than lives up to the difficult task of keeping the film fascinating. Even in extended moments of routine home life, the film is always engaging thanks mainly to Melander and director Ali Abbasi. The film may indeed be bizarre but it is always intriguing.
It takes on many themes though perhaps too much as there are various loose ends by the conclusion. But it goes into territory that is rarely explored: the isolation felt by beings (troll-like humans in this case) who are different from most people they encounter. As Tina meets someone like her, she goes through a coming-out self-discovery. This narrative is at least as fascinating as the crime story. - dbamateurcritic
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Tina (Eva Melander) works as a Swedish border agent. She has animal-like features that include the ability to successfully detect fear, guilt, and shame in troublesome border crossers. As the film progresses, she is asked to use her special abilities to expose a child pornography operation. During this time, she also meets another human with animal-like characteristics.
Melander is in almost every scene and she more than lives up to the difficult task of keeping the film fascinating. Even in extended moments of routine home life, the film is always engaging thanks mainly to Melander and director Ali Abbasi. The film may indeed be bizarre but it is always intriguing.
It takes on many themes though perhaps too much as there are various loose ends by the conclusion. But it goes into territory that is rarely explored: the isolation felt by beings (troll-like humans in this case) who are different from most people they encounter. As Tina meets someone like her, she goes through a coming-out self-discovery. This narrative is at least as fascinating as the crime story. - dbamateurcritic