The ghost.


The main reason that I liked this movie is that the ghost of the twin sister, Linda, seems to be there, and it's fairly well done and spooky. I hardly see this aspect mentioned online.

The part where they find the suicide note, and later the dream sequence with Linda.

The sister, Helene, and Lars the employee, go into the room where Linda was staying. Everything's been covered in white clothes and sheets, and they even say how ghostly it looks. They remove the sheets and the sister sees the bathtub in the adjacent bathroom where the sister killed herself. "I'm getting bad vibes. Did you hear that? She's in the bathroom?" Helene looks in the bathroom for clues and makes poor Lars lay in the bathtub. The clues indicate that Linda was playing some sort of game for her siblings to find her suicide note, a game they played as kids called "getting warmer" as if she was emotionally stunted or left behind in her childhood.

This part is divided by what the other siblings are experiencing, and I can only assume that they are being emotionally impacted by the ghost. Michael and his wife, Mette, fight and then have some sort of weird grudge sex. Christian is talking to a girl named Pia who cries and speaks of being left behind, and is only in his room to take a bath, as if she's possessed by Linda. Then Pia acts like she's going to drown herself. After the grudge sex, Michael gets in the shower.

Then Helene decides to keep the suicide note a secret and Pia snaps out of it and Michael falls in the shower.

All the while, the camera angles are bird's eye views or sometimes floating around as if everything is being seen by an invisible person.

What does everyone else think about it?


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Just rewatched the film, and what you say makes a lot of sense to me, because it neatly ties together and explains the scenes, and put "proper emphasis" on Linda and her farewell to Christian towards the end of the film. If Linda hadn't committed suicide, I don't think Christian would have made the speech, most likely he wouldn't show up at all. And now when he showed up, the spell was broken.

Pia who cries and speaks of being left behind, and is only in his room to take a bath, as if she's possessed by Linda.
Well, Pia appears to be very attracted to Christian, but she pretty much looks like having given up.
Later on it is Pia who finds the suicide note (under the ghost's supervision, it seems) and puts it into play. Which again turns out to be the last nail in Helge's coffin, so that Christian's spell is broken and Pia at last can have him. Really neatly done.

For the record - another take on the hovering camera has been it representing the omnipresent trouble penetrating the place - most characters are rather flawed.


For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.

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Yes, you make a very good point about Pia and the suicide note and the "omnipresent trouble" hovering camera. This is easily my favorite ghost story for Halloween!



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What struck me at the last watching (has been a while..) was the comical background. All the minor characters (flaws) were painted in a comical way, which tend to lure the audience into believing that the film is a comedy - until shock strikes. The guest's reactions, the denial and the time they needed time to grasp the situation are masterly portrayed.

Back to the ghost: I've read a few analyses of the film (I'm Norwegian and read Danish), and none of them emphasises the ghost nearly as much as the film does. I don't think they dare, in fear of not be taken seriously. Which is sort of strange - the film is quite "impertinent", it breaks most of the rules and does everything it can to knock people off their perches, and seriously introducing a ghost fits neatly into this pattern. Oh well.

For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.

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