How complex is the truth? Are our memories reliable? Can therapeutic processes be trusted? How does childhood trauma manifest itself? These are just some of the questions that director Ran Huang poses for his audience in his feature length debut, What Remains. And if that feels heavy, it’s because it’s supposed to. This isn’t your standard grisly Scandi crime thriller; this film is here to ask the big questions.
Loosely based on the true story of Thomas Quick (aka Sture Bergwall), What Remains centres around an unholy trinity of damaged individuals. Mads Lake (Gustav Skarsgård) is in a psychiatric institution for molesting young boys. The day before his release, he gains a new therapist, Anna (Andrea Riseborough), to whom he confesses a spate of murders. Disturbed yet keen to find out more, Anna involves detective Soren Rank (Stellan Skarsgård) and the pair embark on a investigation, drawing more information out of Mads and potentially solving decades-old crimes.
Huang, along with cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt, have drained almost all of the colour from the screen. The film has an incredibly clinical, muted colour palette comprising mostly of institutional grey, blues, off-whites and greens. It feels dark and cold, with the weather consistently oscillating between frozen-topped mud, snow and sideways rain. Even the sprawling Scandinavian forests have been stripped of their lush greenery, with sad, bare branches the order of the day.
The key themes explored by Huang and his co-writer, Megan Everett- Skarsgård, raise an eyebrow or two regarding the abuse of therapeutic processes. Anna immediately has Mads on new pills and encourages new recollections from him by showing him photographs, taking him to alleged murder sites and discussing his dreams. “This can’t be real, right?” Mads whimpers, after one of their sessions together. Are her methods legitimate or is she imposing memories on him that aren’t really there? Certainly his confessions are graphic – both of his childhood abuse at the hands of this father and of his own crimes – but there really is little evidence to suggest that any of this is real. “It’s about arriving at the truth,” Anna reassures him. But this is a film that never really allows you to gain any sense of veracity, despite a number of intense close ups, allowing you to search for a flicker of a smirk; a twitch of an eye; a flare of a nostril.
The film comprises a supporting cast, including Finnish talent such as Eero Milonoff and Irina Bjorklund, but it really is all about the hugely impressive lead trio. And, out of this rich acting talent, it is Gustav Skarsgård who you cannot take your eyes off. His performance will leave you so conflicted – he is meant to be an abuser and murderer – yet this pathetic, fragile creature who can barely hold eye contact is so empathetic. He is so broken and unsure; so pathetic and scared. “I just don’t understand why my life has been so miserable,” he sighs. The whole ritual of recollection seems humiliating for him. Can he really be a serial killer? Where is his bravado; his taunting of the police and his therapist; his pleasure in his crimes? It’s an emotionally raw and vulnerable performance that will draw you into the story and leave you with a lot more questions than Huang perhaps originally sets out to pose.
The pacing of What Remains is as intense as its subject matter. This is a dialogue driven, complex crime drama that takes its time unlacing every element of the narrative and of the characters. It may well make uncomfortable viewing for some, lingering as it does over traumatic details of abuse. Is a film that seems designed to make you feel sorry for a killer one that should sit comfortably with audiences? More than that, the entire dynamic between Soren, Anna and Mads feels like an abusive, pressured relationship in itself.
But Huang is content with discomfort. The film never once suggests that there is any redemption, relief or catharsis for any of the lead trio. It seems that they may never find the truth and, therefore, peace.
What Remains is a rather unsettling film that will leave you doubting what you have seen and heard. It toys with notions of truth and abuse; power and fragility. It is complex and raises so many moral and ethical questions that you will be thinking about it for days after viewing. Gustav Skarsgård’s incredibly absorbing performance, alone, is worth dropping everything for.
What Remains premieres exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 3 June. Sign up for a 7-day free trial at iconfilmchannel.uk or via the Icon Film Amazon Prime Video channel
