Germany, Sweden, United States, 2019, 98’, color, DCP
screenplay
Daniel Alfredson
Birgitta Bongenhielm
based on Kära Agnes
by Håkan Nesser
cinematography
Pawel Edelman
editing
Håkan Karlsson
music
Anders Niska
Klas Wahl
sound
Ken Skoglund
Nenad Vukadinovic
production design
Miljen Kreka Kljakovic
costumes
Momirka Bailovic
cast
Carla Juri [Agnes]
Gemma Chan [Henny]
Jamie Sives [Peter]
Cal MacAninch [Erich Neuman-Hansen]
Laurie Kynaston [Johannes]
Jason Wong [Benjamin]
Ed Cooper Clarke [Thomas Neuman-Hansen]
Ash Hunter [Johann Clausen]
producers
Rick Dugdale
Thomas Peter Friedl
Uwe Schott
productions
Enderby Entertainment
The Amazing Film Company
Umedia
Seine Pictures
world sales
What is a human life worth? How is it possible that a woman like Agnes could agree to kill another human being? Is it the money? Or are there other forces at play? A funeral. A young widow and two adult children. Agnes is burying her much older husband and the children are his, not hers. Agnes senses that someone is watching her and glimpses a woman roughly her own age standing nearby. Within seconds, the woman is gone. They were once very close, Agnes and Henny. A friendship both rewarding and demanding, which ended in disaster. Now Henny seeks reconciliation. But Agnes seems cautious. Agnes is completely thrown by Henny’s proposal. Henny is married to Peter, and asks Agnes to help her murder him. She’s prepared to pay good money and also to let Agnes choose the manner in which David is to die. Agnes realizes that the past has caught up with her and that she has no choice. What really happened between Agnes and Henny in Bruges all those years ago? How could it be that two people who enjoyed one another’s company so much, could end up hurting each other so badly? They, who had loved each other so much...
"It’s been a dream for quite a while to do something based upon the writing of Swedish author Håkan Nesser. My co-writer, Ditta Bongenhielm, found these short stories and we got the blessing of Håkan to see what we could accomplish. At a very early stage I got the idea of doing a trilogy, or rather an anthology. To do three stories set in this same world created by Håkan Nesser. Not because they share the same main characters, because they don’t, but because they deal with the same issues and all three of them deal with time as an important part of the story. It became the Intrigo project.
Together with the producer, Rick Dugdale, we scouted Europe to find Maardam. And we did! Together with the DOP, Pawel Edelman, I believe we found the essence of what is between the lines in these short stories, the soul of Maardam where a fantastic cast made it complete. It was a tough journey in many ways but filming back to back also made it possible to engage the whole crew in the project in a way that probably wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. By doing this we managed to create the feeling I believe you get when you read Håkan’s novels. You step in to a well-known world, yet special and totally unique." [Daniel Alfredson]
Daniel Alfredson (Stockholm, 1959) is the director of the two parts of the Millennium Trilogy: The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. Was awarded Best Screenplay and nominated for Best Director at the 29th Annual Guldbagge Awards for his film The Man on the Balcony. His most recent films include Kidnapping Freddy Heineken starring Anthony Hopkins and Sam Worthington and Go with Me starring Anthony Hopkins, Julia Stiles, Ray Liotta and Alexander Ludwig. Daniel is the older brother of Tomas Alfredson and the son of Hasse Alfredson.
2019 Intrigo: Dear Agnes
2019 Intrigo: Samara
2018 Intrigo: Death of an Author
2015 Go with Me
2015 Kidnapping Mr. Heineken
2013 Skumtimmen
[Echoes from the Dead]
2009 Luftslottet som sprängdes
[The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest]
2009 Flickan som lekte med elden
[The Girl Who Played with Fire]
2008 Varg [Wolf]
2001 Syndare i sommarsol
2000 10:10 [short]
1999 Straydogs
1998 Rymd [short]
1997 Tic Tac
1993 Mannen på balkongen
[The Man on the Balcony]
