DANISH psychological thriller ‘Speak No Evil‘ is a film I wish I could unsee.
Days later, I still felt scarred from the experience. I don’t think a movie has left such a nagging impression on me since Gaspar Noé’s stunningly brutal ‘Irreversible‘ in 2002.
This, folks, is the stuff that fuels nightmares.
Now showing on Shudder, Christian Tafdrup’s film is a dark thriller that tells the tale of a Danish family who instantly become friends with a Dutch family they meet while holidaying in Tuscany.
A number of months later, Bjorn (Morten Burian) and his wife Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) receive an unexpected invitation to visit the Dutch countryside to stay with Patrick (Fedja van Huet) and his wife Karin (Karina Smulders) in their cosy wooden home.
However, away from the Mediterranean wine and sunshine, the two couples seem to get off on the wrong foot and a number of little misunderstandings pave the way for more heinous transgressions later on.
Against their better judgement, Bjorn and his family stay despite the fact they feel totally uncomfortable. They are just too nice and trusting for their own good.
On their own turf, the Dutch couple show a less affable side than the all-grinning personalities they came off as earlier in Italy.
Every opportunity the Danish family have to leave, they pass up, which goes a long way to racking up the tension and create an almost sickly atmosphere.
All the while, alarm bells are sounding, but none of this prepares the viewer for the abominable final act.
And of course, like the Danish family who have entered this perverse house of horrors, it is too late for the viewer to switch off now. We are invested in the plot.
Tafdrup hooks us and reels us in for one of the most devastating finales of recent times. I am still not right after it!
(4/5)
