Coming hot off its Palme d’Or win at Cannes, Fjord arrives at TIFF with considerable buzz behind it. Directed by Cristian Mungiu, Fjord has been marketed as a courtroom drama, though the majority of its hefty 2-hour-and-26-minute runtime (never felt, by the way) unfolds elsewhere.
The film follows Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) and Mihai (Sebastian Stan), a conservative evangelical couple who relocate from Romania to an isolated Norwegian town with their five children. Their strict religious beliefs quickly clash with their new community when one of their younger children expresses homophobic views at school. Things unravel further when a teacher discovers bruises on one of the family's oldest siblings, leading to the school to call child protective services to lead an investigation on the parents.
Fjord opens with the 1779 hymn “Amazing Grace,” which returns repeatedly throughout the film. Written by John Newton, the hymn has a complicated history yet is still deeply embedded in Christian culture. Newton was a seaman who– during a violent storm in 1748– called out to god to save him in what he would later understand as the beginning of his religious conversion. Newton was also deeply involved in the transatlantic slave trade, captaining ships that carried enslaved African people.
Newton’s conversion to Christianity did not immediately lead him to reject slavery. Years later, after studying theology and becoming an Anglican minister, Newton became an abolitionist and publicly condemned the system he had once participated in and profited from. He wrote many hymns during his ministry, including “Amazing Grace,” a song that has since become associated with repentance and redemption.
The hymn’s recurring presence in Fjord feels deliberate as the film asks uncomfortable questions about wrongdoing and redemption: Who is worthy of grace? Who gets to decide whether someone deserves to be forgiven for their wrongdoings? And what does reparation mean within family systems and communities when the law intervenes in the interest of children's wellbeing?
With the risk of avalanches looming in the small town’s background, Fjord’s tension is held tightly not only by the threat of an environmental calamity but by various community members– the children’s parents, school teachers, religious zealots, the court system, and others– all who seem to have their own ideas of what is best for the children.
Although the ending didn’t stick the landing tonally for me personally, the rest of the film had me enraptured by the impeccable direction, strong performances by the entire cast, morally thorny themes, and stunning cinematography. Reinsve in particular seems to continuously give career best performances with each new project she takes on (see also: the Worst Person in the World [2021] and Sentimental Value [2025] to name two) and Fjord is certainly another credit to her immense talent.
If I had to put my money on it, Fjord will almost certainly be a contender on the awards circuit this year. American audiences can catch it in theatres October 9, with Canadian theatres slated to follow shortly after on October 16. U.K. audiences will be waiting a little while longer: Fjord will have its U.K. premiere at LFF on October 17 before being released to wider audiences November 13.
Content note for viewers: Fjord contains depictions of self-harm and suicide and conversations about abuse against children.
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