Fifties Thriller with Strong Agatha Christie Echoes
Set on a remote island in the late Fifties, DEATH OF A LOVED ONE has strong echoes of Agatha Christie: at one point a character likens the situation to that of TEN LITTLE INDIANS. A group of people are isolated on the island, with no means of communication with the mainland except by boat - and the boat has been put out of action. Hence they have to stay together in a pressure-cooker situation where one of them is a murderer.
Unlike Christie, however, Birger Larsen's production has at least two investigators - Police Inspector Christer (Ola Rapace), a thirtysomething man with a yen for young women; and Puck (Tuva Novotny), a university lecturer writing her thesis on murderers in literature. Her boyfriend Eje (Linus Wahlgren) is likewise an academic, only his subject is medieval architecture. Together they solve the mystery of the serial killer: Christer does all the spade-work, but it is Puck who unearths the final piece of the jigsaw so that the murderer can be identified.
The atmosphere on the island is like a pressure-cooker, with every character having a motive for murder. Most of them have either been in love with one another; some are conducting affairs clandestinely; others are more open in their sexualities. Rutger (Gustaf Hammarsten) is especially nervous, as he realizes to his cost that his complicated love life has been brought out into the open. His current wife Ann (Suzanna Dilber) tries to blot out the truth through housework, but finds the mental effort too much for her. Lil (Ida Engvoll) bears more than a passing resemblance to Marilyn Monroe; she adopts a more liberal approach to her relationships. Such characterizations help to contribute to an episode that keeps us guessing right until the end.
The Fifties recreations are historically exact - complete with big cars, flowing skirts and perpetual smoking - but they seem almost too perfect, creating a chocolate-box world whose inhabitants' behavior is morally doubtful, to say the least. Perhaps director Larsen wanted to emphasize this contrast, in a manner similar to that of the British Miss Marple adaptations.
DEATH OF A LOVED ONE unfolds at a slow pace, the action kept deliberately low-key until the denouements. In terms of content and form, it seems especially familiar for a televised whodunit, but I am convinced that the series has potential for further development. I look forward to the next episode.
Unlike Christie, however, Birger Larsen's production has at least two investigators - Police Inspector Christer (Ola Rapace), a thirtysomething man with a yen for young women; and Puck (Tuva Novotny), a university lecturer writing her thesis on murderers in literature. Her boyfriend Eje (Linus Wahlgren) is likewise an academic, only his subject is medieval architecture. Together they solve the mystery of the serial killer: Christer does all the spade-work, but it is Puck who unearths the final piece of the jigsaw so that the murderer can be identified.
The atmosphere on the island is like a pressure-cooker, with every character having a motive for murder. Most of them have either been in love with one another; some are conducting affairs clandestinely; others are more open in their sexualities. Rutger (Gustaf Hammarsten) is especially nervous, as he realizes to his cost that his complicated love life has been brought out into the open. His current wife Ann (Suzanna Dilber) tries to blot out the truth through housework, but finds the mental effort too much for her. Lil (Ida Engvoll) bears more than a passing resemblance to Marilyn Monroe; she adopts a more liberal approach to her relationships. Such characterizations help to contribute to an episode that keeps us guessing right until the end.
The Fifties recreations are historically exact - complete with big cars, flowing skirts and perpetual smoking - but they seem almost too perfect, creating a chocolate-box world whose inhabitants' behavior is morally doubtful, to say the least. Perhaps director Larsen wanted to emphasize this contrast, in a manner similar to that of the British Miss Marple adaptations.
DEATH OF A LOVED ONE unfolds at a slow pace, the action kept deliberately low-key until the denouements. In terms of content and form, it seems especially familiar for a televised whodunit, but I am convinced that the series has potential for further development. I look forward to the next episode.
- l_rawjalaurence
- Aug 30, 2014