Tina Kakadelis
Amalie Næsby Fick’s Toronto International Film Festival-playing film, What Lies Between Us, is adapted by Sara Jønsson and Nikolaj Arcel from Anne Mette Kirk’s 2023 novel, Dobbeltfejl. What Mette Kirk crafted, and Næsby Fick expanded, is a morality play in proper society, where right and wrong are filtered through the lens of public perception before truth is actually considered.
What Lies Between Us is the convergence of three families. One is an image of perfection. The mother, Anne Sofie (Sidse Babett Knudsen), is the top Realtor in town. She expects her son, Frederik (Viktor Garrison), to carry on this legacy of achievement through tennis. The second family is Sarah (Sofie Gråbøl) and her son, Oskar (August Mjelva-Aaen). Sarah’s husband is out of the picture, so it’s just the two of them. Perhaps Sarah holds Oskar a little too close, but he also struggles to make friends with kids his age. The final family is another twosome. New to town, mother Ulrikke (Asta Kamma August) and son NC (Julian Brix) find immediate friendship with these women and their sons. They are all thrown into chaos during the night of a school party. While the mothers are getting to know each other inside, the boys head off to the nearby skate park. The next day, Oskar tells a teacher at school that he was assaulted by the boys.
The Danish title of the film translates to the tennis term “double fault.” In the sport, the server has two chances per point to get their serve into play. If they miss both, it’s considered a double fault and the point is awarded to the receiver. Frederik is the top player at the local club until NC moves to town. It’s clear NC is the better player, more focused and stronger, but Anne Sofia doesn’t take kindly to her son being a runner-up. As the schism caused by the assault allegations grows, so does the tension on court. Given the film’s inclusion of the sport through the two boys, the original language title works, but it also references the compounding of fault that exists between the children and their parents. When the mothers learn more about what occurred at the skate park that night, they find themselves potentially complicit. Does familial loyalty trump justice?
There has been a trend of films at TIFF this year about finding the truth behind allegations of abuse. Fjord, Sisters, and What Lies Between Us all have some sort of allegation presented as the central conflict of the film. In all circumstances, the accuser is a child, but Fjord differs in that the accused is an adult. When a trend like this pops up, one has to wonder what it says about the current culture that’s making so many people interested in exploring allegations of abuse and what it means to tell the truth. Does it come from the fact that what’s real is up for debate on a daily basis? Not only because of AI, but because our elected officials and those in power put so little stock in what’s true. We hear what we want to believe and do a damn good job of finding excuses as to why facts should be ignored in favor of maintaining the status quo.
Unlike Fjord and Sisters, What Lies Between Us shows the audience the events that have torn these families apart. A video exists of that night at the skate park, and the audience sees it play out in its entirety, but not until near the end of the movie. The lead-up to the reveal will act as a litmus test of sorts for viewers who make snap judgments about the kids. Which one of them is lying? Does truth allow for multiple versions of events? Should we need photographic or video evidence to be able to formulate an opinion? If so, what does that look like when AI is getting better every day? In the real world, photo and video evidence don’t solve everything like they do in What Lies Between Us. We’ve seen plenty of examples of abuse that are substantiated, corroborated, and backed up with tangible evidence, but repercussions never come.
As a parent, you want to be able to believe that you raised your kid to be kind to everyone. That they will go out into the world and do no harm. What Lies Between Us is what happens when that idea is shattered. Through the stories of these three very different women, the film shows the multitude of reactions that a claim like this can cause in a family and a community. What Lies Between Us shows the fragility of our society and how quick the pillars can all crumble.
