What Lies Between Us

How far will a mother go to protect her children? The delightfully lurid What Lies Between Us answers the question as it takes audiences into the heart of a small community where a single, unspeakable incident sets off a chain reaction of duplicity, distrust, and unease.

Set in an aspirational Danish suburb, realtor and former tennis star Anne Sofie (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and ceramicist Sara (Sofie Grabol) are the perfect picture of involved school Moms and close friends. Anne’s son Frederik (Viktor Garrison) is successfully following in her footsteps, already touted as a rising talent. Sara’s son Oskar (August Mjelva-Aaen) is introverted and withdrawn to the point she worries he might be autistic, developing behind his peers. When young single mother Ulrikke (Asta Kamma August) moves into town, Anne and Sara don’t hesitate to welcome her. Like Frederik, Ulrikke’s son Niels Christian (Julian Brix) is a competitive tennis player and the pair form a low key friendship. However, all these threads come undone when Oskar alleges he was sexually assaulted while hanging out one evening with Frederik and Niels Christian. As social workers and the police try to piece together what exactly happened, the mothers are sent into fight or flight mode.

The subject matter opens a number of thematic avenues that the film glances upon. There are the class dynamics that come into play between the wealthy Anne, working class Sara, and lower class Ulrikke and how the “truth” can be asserted by affluence. There’s the influence of toxic masculinity in sports as Frederik’s and Niels Christian’s tennis coach Sebastian (Lasse Steen) not only encourages, but participates, in seamy and sexist group chats with his students that he waves away as letting hormonal boys let off some steam. The picture also illustrates the stress that expectation can have on children following in the footsteps of their accomplished parents. And there’s the exploration of how sexual assault investigations, when handled indelicately, can make things worse for both the victim and accussed alike.

These are are noble subjects to pursue, but the picture is at its most potent when delving into the quickly shifting loyalties between Anne, Sara, and Ulrikke as news of the allegations spread like wildfire through the community. And thankfully, that’s where it largely stays focused. Penned by acclaimed screenwriter Nicolaj Arcel (The Promised Land, A Royal Affair) and Sara Jonsson (the underrated Copenhagen Cowboy, Miss Osaka) the story stays just on the right side of melodrama; entertainingly soapy but never undermining the seriousness of what’s at stake — not just Oskar’s trauma, but the tennis careers and reputations of Frederik and Niels Christian, along with their families. The narrative wisely reveals exactly who did what to whom at its midpoint, and from there, everything intensifies as each parent maneuvers to keep their sons out of trouble, and the facts become further obscured.

Directed by Amalie Naesby Fick, with a background in both the small and big screen, What Lies Between Us feels more televisual than theatrical. The work by cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Hunt, Far From The Madding Crowd) is disappointingly uninspired. And the film’s tennis sequences — including a critical third act match that drives the denouement — are cut and shot somewhat clumsily. (Though, in the wake of Challengers, the standard for the sport on screen has been raised a considerable degree.) But the film’s adequate technical accomplishments don’t diminish what is an otherwise pacey, frequently twisty tale.

There’s no doubt acquisition execs from Netflix and HBO will keep an eye on this one. This is the perfect title for a Friday night popcorn watch at home, and one that will especially resonate with parents already navigating the politics and hierarchies of the school system. Sometimes well made bit of froth goes a long way. And during a festival with no shortage of furrowed brow films, What Lies Between Us is a welcome diversion, striking the right balance between salacious and serious.

Director: Amalie Naesby Fick
Screenplay: Nikolaj Arcel, Sara Jonsson
Cast: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Sofie Grabol, Asta Kamma August, Viktor Garrison, August Mjelva-Aaen, Julian Brix, Lasse Steen
Producers: Louise Vesth
Cinematography: Charlotte Bruus Christensen
Production design: Kenneth Damsgaard
Costume design: Tanja Eleonora Spang
Editing: My Thordal
Music: Andreas Arenholt Bindslev
Sound: Oskar Skriver
Production companies: Zentropa (Denmark), Klinker Film (Denmark)
World sales: TrustNordisk
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Discovery)
In Danish
105 minutes