Department
Q was created to clear cold cases, but it has also specialized in airing Denmark’s
dirty national laundry. That will be especially true of their latest case, which
could also be the last for the current team, if the long-suffering Hafez al-Assad
accepts a well-deserved promotion-transfer. However, the investigation will hit
pretty close to home for the immigrant detective in Christoffer Boe’s The Purity of Vengeance, which screens
during the 2019 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.
Three
mummified bodies are discovered behind the false wall of a flat long rented to
a nurse with a rather checkered history. As Assad and his boss, Carl Mørck (who
has somehow found a way to be even more miserable than usual) start investigating,
they discover all three victims and the missing nurse were connected to a controversial
home for wayward girls on Sprogø island. Judging from the flashbacks, we can
safely assume the murders have something to do with all the wrong done to young
Nete, even though she is one of the three bodies posed as part of a gruesome dinner
party.
There
is not a lot of mystery in Vengeance,
because Dr. Curt Wad is quickly served up as the film’s nasty villain. These
days, the public knows him as the director of a fertility clinic, but it is
conspicuously obvious he still subscribes to all the eugenics theories he
practiced while on staff at Sprogø.
Considering
how little Mørck and Assad have to figure out, it is rather irresponsible how
long they let their investigation drag on. Even though everyone will immediately
assume the eugenics doctor is the bad guy, Boe should at least provide a few
more suspects, just to make Mørck and Assad look more professional.
Still,
the messed-up chemistry shared by the two detectives is quite compelling.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas manages to set an all time low for depressed brooding and
self-indulgent self-loathing. His commitment as a thesp is impressive, but we
still just want to give him a good slap. Fares Fares is charismatic and
convincingly conscientious as Assad, while Johanne Louise Schmidt helps keep
the film grounded as their faithful, mediating assistant Rose. However, as the
unfortunately named Dr. Wad, Anders Hove completely throws subtlety out the
window and wears his villainy on his sleeve.
The
first three Department Q films steadily improved, with the third, A Conspiracy of Faith being the best and
the smartest of the initial trilogy. Unfortunately, the fourth film is a bit of
a step down from there. Those of us who have invested our time in the previous trilogy
will be happy to revisit the characters, but as a suspenseful crime story, Vengeance is probably the least of the
series. It is also most likely the last film featuring the current cast and
creatives, because the franchise has moved to a different studio. Frankly, it
is probably time for a reboot and a fresh approach.
Still,
it is always worth the price of admission to see what new agonizing depths Kaas
can reach. Recommended for fans of angsty, existential Scandinavian mysteries, The Purity of Vengeance screens tomorrow
(4/7), Thursday (4/11), and Friday (4/19), as part of this year’s MSPIFF.
