Fatal Crossing - Les filles du ferry

Very poorly scripted, with too many plot holes and unrealistic plot behaviour. Foreign viewers may not notice the theatrically presented lines and artificial lines, but a Danish viewer will quickly notice. Foreign viewers will, however, notice how slooooowlyy things move. The 8 x 40 minutes could easily have been reduced to half without losing anything. But not even that would make it worth watching due to the poor and unbelievable plot. I never understood why film makers don't have professionals proof read their scripts before thet start filming, among others to check if the behaviour of the poliecemen is at least remotely plausible.

Journalist Nora Sand has to step back from her prestigious London job after getting romantically involved with a person she was investigating. She returns to her home town in Denmark and shortly after her arrival an unknown person places an envelope containing photographs in her letter box. They are of two girls who vanished from a ferry on a school trip to England in 1980. She determines to investigate; in the process uncovering various long hidden secrets. At the same time another teenage girl goes missing; is there a connection?

I thought this was a decent enough mystery series. It may not be the best of the ever growing number of Nordic dramas available to watch in the UK but the story is solid and had some good twists that I hadn't really expected. The protagonist is a little difficult to like; especially early on as she manages to annoy many people she interacts with. However by the time she was in danger towards the end I did worry about how things would turn out. Early on it is a little slow moving but the finale is genuinely tense and claustrophobic. The cast does a solid job bringing the characters to life. Overall a decent enough addition to the Nordic Noir genre; worth a watch if you enjoy such series.

These comments are based on watching the series in Danish with English subtitles.

So they skimped on an editor - a shame. Could've worked in four episodes. Way too slow paced. The last two episodes, where you'd expect it to become exciting, 'thrilling' it completely deflates and leaves the viewers in this household yawning and glancing at their phones. The author surely can't be pleased with the result? The actors all do their best to make this glacier-moving narrative work, but have apparently all been told to speak excruciatingly slowly. If you have the time, then give it a go, but if you don't need to have everything repeated and regurgitated for you again and again, then give it a miss.

I must say going in, that this is a rare time in which my opinion seems to differ from the masses. I don't typically post reviews, I simply trust the ratings that I see and I'm not normally disappointed. I found this to be riveting on many levels. This actress is next level talented. I thought the acting was superb and I thought it was well written. The pace could have been a bit quicker, but I think it lended itself to a more thorough series. Most of you don't agree with that, I get it. This series, on its worst day, though, is far far better than most of the garbage put out in America. On that, I think we can all agree. 🤘

Streaming on Channel 4 (UK) made the slow paced thriller even slower.

The frequent adds, and the glitches at times in the streaming made this a difficult watch. I can't really take away stars from the film for reasons outside the film makers control, but it did impact on my enjoyment watching this.

I'll take one star away because of the ending, as it it just didn't meet my expectations.

I'll take another because it simply was a tad to slow at times. Like unnatural long pauses in phone calls. Only example I can give to avoid spoilers.

Another star is deducted because of the filming. At first I made excuses it was an old production but it appears from 2023, so a bit too old school or low budget.

The story line had potential but falls short at times, the yet another star deducted.

The acting is not great performance either, a final star deducted.

I'll leave the remaining 5, as I did watch it to the end. The plot delivers twists and turns and all sorts that belongs to a decent thriller, and it could have had great potential. At least it's a mini series with no cliffhangers.

I'll give it an extra star because it is a Danish series jumping it to six stars.