story & synopsis

 

Hanna - AGNIESZKA KOSÓN, is a young hard working intern at a tabloid in the city of Stockholm. She is determined to find the scoop that is going to grant her greatness.

 

She has just left her boyfriend, Martin - JOHAN WIDERBERG, and moved to a flat on her own. She excuses herself by the need to concentrate on her work, but Martin keeps pestering her, turning up in the middle of the night (he drives a cab). He is very jealous and makes her life difficult.

 

One day she is assigned to read letters to the editor and finds one from Dan - FREDRIK DOLK, whose girl-friend went to work one day and never came back. He complains that the police won't help him.

 

Hanna knows that the police are looking for a lady-killer, but wont talk to the press about it.

 

She decides to get into the story by interviewing Dan. Ambitious as she is, she starts breaking rules and the closer she gets to Dan the more confused she is. Soon she finds herself caught in a situation she she cannot control.

 

Who is the man with the letter? Is he who he says he is ? Is he just a lonely man who wants attention? Or is he in fact a killer?

 

psychology

 

The characters in LITHIVM have been developed as complex people like in real life i.e. not just provided capacities to fit the story. This results in a series of unexpected twists.

 

The Killer: Is he a nice guy? We intentionally create a disturbing feeling by introducing traits that will make us identify with the man with blood on his hands. Why? Naturally we want people to feel what it is like. Otherwise people may imagine that bad guys don't like themselves. They do!

 

The Girl: She is a journalist, she is ambitious - she has an ex boyfriend she doesn't get rid of. Why? Why not just say "Get out of my life!" - well that's life - for some reason she doesn't - maybe she has a feeling that he is her property in some way - maybe she would feel lonely if he didn't wake her in the middle of the night and give her a reason to complain. Her part is a complex one - she reads a letter and sees the journalistic potential in it. The man who writes it has a complaint - the police are the culprit - bureaucracy etc... But - she also has a hunch he might be more connected to the killings than he admits. She follows both lines of thoughts and extemporises until she in the end gets herself into the trap at. She is smart and strong - in a way she wins psychologically over the strangler by challenging his statement - that he is the killer - how do you do it then? If he is not in the killing part of the mind he is harmless - pathetic - suddenly when she is about to leave the prospect of being left alone - frustration - loneliness and he is lethal again ...

 

The Boyfriend: What does this guy want? Is he just a jealous boyfriend. Does he really think that he can get his girl back by harassing her? He is manic - he cannot control his temper - follows her and stakes her AND he feels like he is not getting what he deserves.... Maybe HE is the killer - or is he just the jealous boyfriend?

 

The Cops: Are not like any other cops. They don't know who started the bonfire in which they find the bodyparts and they don't have a clue where to start looking. The only thing they know is that they don't want to find themselves on the front pages with their pants down - for not finding the killer. Instead they look for somebody else to blame - so in one way they are very smart because they actually solve the problem they CAN solve and forget about the one the cannot. Things don't turn out as they expect though ...