Mona is a young woman, engaged to a man who never shows up. She relies strongly on her supportive friend, Anne. Mona suspects that Anne's psychologist, Dr. Lark, is acting funny towards her friend, and decides to investigate. Mona and Anne will find themselves embroiled in a strange world of psychiatry and fanaticism, in which both young women's lives will be endangered.
Direction
Bier's debut simmers with the unease that becomes her trademark.
Acting
Gråbøl's Mona: desperate, stubborn, impossible to look away from.
Director
Susanne Bier
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pre-Dogme 95, this shows Bier developing the intimate female-focused tension that would define the Danish film renaissance. Sofie Gråbøl was already a household name in Denmark; this cemented her as the queen of barely-holding-it-together women.
The original title 'Sekten' (The Sect) was changed internationally, possibly because distributors feared it sounded too niche—ironic, given the film's entire point is how cults hide in plain sight.
DK
