The Last Client (Klienten)

The Last Client doesn’t take its time revealing the killer, that becomes clear early on in the film during the consultation between patient Mark (Anton Hjejle) and his psychologist Susanne (Signe Egholm Olsen). It would be time badly spent at the viewer would work it out as quick. What does take its time is the exchanges between them, the growing unease and revelations.

This two-hander between Mark and Susanne is the lynchpin of the movie. Slowburn terror as Mark ups the ante saying he will commit suicide, giving Susanne an hour to save talk him out of it. And there is no doubt of what Mark is capable of having viciously dispatched the assistant and Susanne gradually realising who he is.

Mostly set in Susanne’s pristine Copenhagen office, for the most part the tension rises as the pair try play out a psychological contest that the viewer know is only going in one direction, though there’s tense sequence when tied up Susanne tries to get message put via an internet connected photocopier, using her tongue. The film does eventually shift out of the office, into cars and ferries eventually out into the forests of Scandinavia where it takes a series of turns.

Directed by Anders Ronnow Klarlund, co-written with Jacob Weinreich, this is an engrossing film somewhat stylised. The viewer is in the realm of the intellectual serial killer albeit with a twist. Much of this driven by the dialogue and acting which is of a very high order.

The viewer will probably have seen these characters though that takes nothing away from the performances. Hjejle is clever and creepy, from the start palpably dangerous, but not the super penetrative intellect of say a Lektor. His is meticulous planning mind that leave little room for improvisation. Olsen is the opposite possessing an incisive brain, she is forced to use her wits, instinct and experience to get her out of her situation. These are two contrasting/complementing performances of the highest order.