Tabloid journalist Annika Bengtzon is writing about a murder in the port of Stockholm and she suspects that the Yugoslav mafia is involved. However, she also finds links to a foundation that runs a shelter for battered women, Paradiset. Looking for a good story she also meets a welfare official, Thomas, who also thinks that the foundation should be looked into. Written by Mattias Thuresson
Acting
Helena Bergström carries every scene with exhausted determination.
Production
Stockholm's gray portscapes feel authentically miserable.
Director
Colin Nutley
Helena Bergström
Annika Bengtzon
Georgi Staykov
Ratko
Niklas Hjulström
Thomas Samuelsson
Örjan Ramberg
Anders Schyman
Brasse Brännström
Nils Langeby
Reine Brynolfsson
Spiken
Ewa Fröling
Berit Hamrin
Maria Lundqvist
Eva-Britt Qvist
Lisa Nilsson
Rebecka Björkstig
Lis Nilheim
Barbro
Inga Landgré
Annika's Grandma
Angela Kovács
Eleonor Samuelsson
Lena T. Hansson
Mia Eriksson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the first of six Annika Bengtzon films starring Helena Bergström, adapted from Liza Marklund's bestselling novels—Sweden's answer to a certain dragon-tattooed journalist.
The Yugoslav mafia angle reflects real post-Yugoslav criminal networks that established themselves in Nordic countries during the 1990s, a tension still rarely explored in mainstream Scandinavian cinema.
SE
