Fjord (2026)

For me Fjord never found its emotional core. The film felt clinical and when it did introduce emotions it felt forced. It is one of those films that feels more like it is making a point than telling a story or showing us some real characters. I know it's "based on a true story" but highly fictionalized, but its sense of realism felt off like it didn't really understand how humans act. 

Fjord moves at a fairly decent pace for a long film, always moving from one plot point to the next. It spends a decent amount of time on the characters in "moments" attempting to show us who they are. Yet I never felt that anyone was portrayed in a manner that made sense. It's almost like Fjord was saying "see??" "see this person" instead of actually making me see them. The kids from our two central families have moments to show us they are connecting but these scenes feel contrived and artificial. The main characters, both Stan and Reinsve but also the other central adults, never even get this well treated. They walk through scenes like they are doing the dress rehearsal, with all emotional investment held back until there are a few (extremely small) burst of humanness only to have that pulled away at the last minute. 

For a while I was wondering if director Mungiu was attempting to build some mystery around the film's central question, a "did they or didn't they" if you will. But Fjord never truly indulges in that. I also thought the film might truly wrestle with the philosophical question at the heart of the film, what is the intersection of the state's responsibility and the role of individual parents when it comes to children's safety, but the film deals so comically with the child protection services characters that you can't ever take it seriously. The film never addresses the fact it repeated bring up, the bruises on the children. 

And as the film reaches it climax, it hinges less on the relationship between the children and their parents, and goes all in one the connection between the eldest daughter and a neighbour friend that never felt like an honest relationship at all so all its emotional impact felt hollow. So much of Fjord felt hollow. It's not a film it's an intellectual argument that forgot to make any compelling argument.  

Fjord

Starring: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve

Writer/Director: Cristian Mungiu