🎬 Love, Lies, and Lethal Secrets
Barbara Rothenborg’s Loving Adults (2022) is a Scandinavian thriller that explores the more sinister side of marriage with a smooth yet deliberate pace. It is inspired by Anna Ekberg’s novel Kærlighed for Voksne. The film intertwines psychology, revenge, and infidelity with chilling turns. It portrays a spiraling tale of jealousy, betrayal, and merciless decisions lurking behind the peaceful facade of suburban life.
In the universe of Loving Adults, love exists as a form of control — harsh, deceptive, and dangerous.
✨ CAST & CHARACTERS – The Calm Before the Storm
A businessman of great success and a charming spouse, DAR SALIM (Christian) is the loving husband whose affair initiates the story. His character arc is from remorse to desperate struggle as he can no longer contain the myriad of secrets he has kept.
SONJA RICHTER (Leonora): Christian’s wife is a former career woman who fully embraced her familial role but is not ready to be sidelined. She is emotionally driven, and her transformation from a grieving wife to a remorseless cold-hearted planner is chilling yet captivating.
Unnamed (Xenia): A young, ambitious, and emotionally volatile violinist, Christian’s mistress. She enters believing love can be taken by force but quickly learns the bitter truth of betrayal: it always has a price.
📝 THE NARRATIVE – Behind A Shining Marriage
Christian and Leonora appear to be living lavishly with a beautiful house, a son recovering from an illness, with an overall envious life. The illusion crumbles when Leonora sees Christian in an affair with a younger, more vibrant Xenia.
Instead of going into a rage, Leonora begins to plot, embarking on a deadly manipulation race devoid of safety and wielding distrust that does not seem to free anyone. The tale turns into a deadly love/domination game where love is jaded, and every single step is a strategic move.
As piles of lies consume the viewers, they wonder: Who is the true puppet master? And who will come out alive in this catastrophic destine for romance?
🎭 THEMES – The Dark Side of Domesticity
Marriage and Possession: This film looks into the difference between love and ownership, portraying the fine line of affection and control of possession.
Infidelity and Dominance: The action of cheating is less explored. The focus rests in the emotional chess game behind the betrayal.
Facade vs. Reality: The world markets the ‘perfect life’, however, the reality is usually much darker. The film cultivates the contradiction between one’s mask and the truth.
Dismal Retaliation: Rather than having emotional explosions, Loving Adults undertakes slow, tactical revenge, which is more psychological than physical.
🎬 PRODUCTION DETAILS
- Director: Barbara Rothenborg
- Based On: Kærlighed for Voksne by Anna Ekberg
- Screenplay: Anders Rønnow Klarlund
- Executive Producer: Marcella Dichmann
- Director of Photography: Jacob Møller
- Film Editing: Janus Billeskov Jansen
- Soundtrack: Kristian Eidnes Andersen
- Production Company: SF Studios
- Language: Danish (subtitled in several languages)
- Duration: 105 minutes
- Category: Psychological Thriller / Domestic Noir
- Premiere: August 26, 2022 (Available On Netflix Worldwide)
🌍 REVIEW – Calmly Disturbing, Elegantly Executed
The film was critically acclaimed for its icy undertone along with a surefire script and stellar performances from the lead actors. It quickly climbed the charts of Netflix‘s top 10 list especially in non-English speaking countries where thrillers focusing on domestic settings seem to garner popularity.
The critics even drew parallels between the film and other European noir dramas such as Gone Girl and The Girl On The Train not for their plot twists but rather for featuring emotionally manipulative protagonists and female driven rage. Even though it does not offer much action, the film’s gradual pacing combined with a chilling narrative structure gives a feeling of tension likened to a slow-paced chess game with fatal stakes.
🧨 LOVING ADULTS – FINAL VERDICT
Loving Adults will draw you in and keep you lothed in bewilderment as it analyzes what occurs when remorse transforms into a weapon, debilitating dialogue, glacial imagery, and ethical vagueness sends shiver down your spine. The movie’s story focuses on the struggle between gaining the upper hand rather than finding a moral conclusion, which makes it all the more captivating.
Intellectual yet thrilling, Loving Adults surpasses all expectation for those seeking polished enigmas. From shattering expectations to navigating the depths of madness disguised behind charming smiles, the show captures tension beautifully. Losing love traverses into far scarier territories as one may do anything to not feel thrown aside.