All Things Fair (1995) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Stig's attraction begins during a punishment scene where Viola keeps him after class to wash the blackboard and chase flies. The humiliation leaves him curious about sex, and he uses a shared interest in dictionaries as an excuse to linger near her. At 15, he's drawn to her maturity and beauty, while Viola, weary of her miserable marriage to the alcoholic Kjell, finds an escape in his youthful innocence. Their forbidden attraction develops from these contrasting needs.

Foreshadowing: The initial classroom punishment scene plant the seeds of their dangerous connection through shared dictionaries.

• Stig
• Viola
• teacher student relationship
• forbidden love
• attraction

When Kjell first spots Stig at Viola's home, he misreads the situation and believes Stig is just a student tutor. He even bonds with Stig over classical music. Later, when he discovers the truth, he remains restrained because his own marital problems and drinking have left him emotionally passive. Kjell cannot act without exposing his own failures as a husband, so he chooses inaction over confrontation.

Foreshadowing: Kjell's lack of anger at finding Stig in his home hints at his deeper resignation to his failing marriage.

• Kjell
• Viola's husband
• affair discovery
• passive husband

Sigge serves aboard the submarine Ulven and corresponds with Stig using secret code letters. The film reveals that Sigge dies when the submarine explodes. Stig learns of this tragedy through a radio report and confirms it through Sigge's final letter, which was written aboard the doomed vessel. This devastating news deeply unsettles Stig, who keeps the information to himself for a time.

Foreshadowing: Sigge's coded letters from the submarine create anticipation of danger throughout the story.

• Sigge
• submarine Ulven
• brother death
• war tragedy

Stig is overwhelmed by the news and doesn't know how to process the grief while already dealing with the emotional chaos of his secret affair. His mother already senses something is wrong with his school troubles, and Stig cannot bear to add another burden to the family. He eventually reveals the truth to his mother on the train ride home after the funerals, suggesting he needed time to cope with the dual tragedies.

Foreshadowing: The earlier radio broadcast about the submarine disaster creates dread before the confirmation arrives.

• Stig
• Sigge
• family grief
• secret keeping

After confronting Viola and denouncing her in front of the class, Stig takes all the dictionaries from her desk. The dictionaries represent both his entry point into the affair and the power imbalance in their relationship, his excuse to see her. Taking them symbolizes his reclamation of agency and his departure from the manipulative dynamic. He walks away carrying these books as a tangible reminder of the entire flawed relationship he's leaving behind.

Foreshadowing: The dictionaries were introduced early as the tool Stig used to initiate contact with Viola.

• dictionaries
• ending
• rebellion
• stolen items
• departure

Viola claims Stig has failed her class, and when he goes to retrieve his grade book, he finds the pages recording his performance have been torn out. This demonstrates her continued control over his academic fate even as their affair collapses. It's unclear whether the failure is justified academically or purely vindictive, but it underscores how Viola maintains power over Stig throughout their relationship, using her position as teacher to manipulate his outcomes.

Foreshadowing: Viola's earlier manipulation of Stig's school performance foreshadows her final academic retaliation.

• Viola
• failing grade
• grade book
• academic punishment
• power dynamics

On the last day of school, as Stig discovers his torn-out grade pages, a plane passes overhead and dumps fuel on the school grounds, injuring several students. This random act of wartime violence creates chaos and brings a brutal end to the school year. It serves as a stark reminder that the war continues to intrude on their personal dramas, adding an element of randomness and danger to an already tumultuous day.

Foreshadowing: The ongoing war backdrop has been established throughout, but this is the most direct violent intrusion into the school.

• plane crash
• fuel dumping
• war
• school injury
• chaos

Lisbet genuinely pursues Stig, offering to give him her virginity after a family party, but Stig is too emotionally entangled with Viola to reciprocate. He later sneaks into the girls' locker room seeking her, and they do consummate their relationship, but Stig's secret life with Viola creates emotional distance. When Lisbet discovers Stig with Viola at the cinema, she is disgusted and rejects him permanently. Stig's confusion about love and desire, combined with his secret affair, prevents him from fully committing to Lisbet.

Foreshadowing: Lisbet's radio attempts to learn the Stockholm dialect show her genuine effort to connect with Stig, contrasting with his hidden life.

• Lisbet
• Stig
• failed relationship
• virginity
• rejection

The war creates the backdrop that shapes every aspect of Stig's life: his brother Sigge serves on a submarine and dies, his father is fond of theater but not classical music, and the constant presence of wartime uncertainty adds emotional weight. The submarine disaster directly impacts Stig's family, while the plane dumping fuel on the school grounds demonstrates the war's violent intrusion into civilian life. The era's instability mirrors Stig's own emotional turmoil as he navigates forbidden love and family loss.

Foreshadowing: Sigge's coded letters from the submarine connect the war directly to the family storyline.

• World War II
• Sweden
• submarine
• war backdrop
• 1943

Beyond the obvious age gap (15 vs 37) and teacher-student boundary, the relationship is unhealthy because Viola manipulates Stig emotionally. She uses him as an escape from her miserable marriage, fails him academically when convenient, and becomes intoxicated and volatile when he tries to end things. Stig, though young, pursues her with desperation born of adolescent curiosity. The power imbalance is explicit: Viola controls his grades, his access to her, and ultimately his academic fate. Stig's final confrontation and theft of dictionaries represents his attempt to reclaim power in the relationship.

Foreshadowing: Viola's early control over Stig's punishment and access to her classroom sets up the unequal dynamic.

• manipulation
• power imbalance
• teacher student
• toxic relationship
• boundary violation