Nightborn

An imposing forest in rural Finland with a dilapidated house surrounded by rusting iron cars and object is just the place that Saga (Seidi Haarla) and Jon (Rupert Grint) have decided to move to.

It’s actually Saga’s childhood home and in a poor state with even a tree growing in it. Nevertheless they are happy and such is the effect of the place that a walk in the forest turns into a romp that nine months later turns out a baby.

A difficult birth results in a difficult baby. First is his appearance very hairy then the constant crying. Breast feeding is nigh on impossible because of the pain inflicted on Saga. This leads to tensions between Jon and Saga.

Then there’s relatives the baby pulls out his grandmother’s earing and when Jon’s priest father tries to bless the child, the cold iron poker he uses burns it. Slowly it begins to dawn on Saga that her grandmother’s stories may have a grain of truth. So, she begins to adopt a more feral attitude that appears to calm him. That though only causes more tensions with Jon.

To some extent the horror in Hanna Bergholm’s film is in the background and concentrates on Saga’s postpartum mental and physical difficulties and Jon’s well intentioned if confused attempts to help or step-in.

The tensions gradually grow between them as Saga becomes more attuned to the child and his needs, and heritage. This is something that Jon cannot get his head around even when he sees the injuries that the feeding baby does to Saga.

The location is wonderful with Bergholm using the sounds and hues of the forest to maximum effect. With the images and embossed faces on the trees, it’s an unsettling film that can only really go one way and leads to a full-blown horror ending.

While there’s plenty of solid support this is mainly a two hander with Haarla and Grint excellent as a couple driven apart by a stubborn inflexibility and forces that in end only one fully understands and embraces.

Nightborn is out now in UK cinemas.