All Things Fair

During a 1943 class at a Malmö school, Stig is caught passing notes and forced to stay behind after. Viola, the teacher, makes him wash the blackboard and chase flies from the room, revealing his humiliation. The incident leaves him curious about sex and sets up a dangerous fascination with Viola.

Stig becomes infatuated with Viola, a married teacher. He uses a shared interest in dictionaries as an excuse to linger around her, and Viola reciprocates, hinting at a forbidden romance. The affair marks a dangerous secret that will shape his actions.

One day Kjell, Viola's husband, catches a glimpse of Stig at Viola's home and misreads the situation. Believing Stig to be a tutee, he chooses not to condemn him and instead bonds with him over classical music. This unlikely alliance complicates loyalties around Viola.

Lisbet, Stig's neighbor and classmate, pursues him by trying to learn the Stockholm dialect through radio broadcasts. Her efforts show a parallel crush and add tension to the unfolding drama. The radio motif underscores the distance between them.

Stig's older brother Sigge writes from aboard the submarine Ulven in a secret code. The letters offer a lifeline of connection as danger looms, and the family clings to the hope that Sigge is safe. The siblings' bond intensifies the emotional stakes of Stig's choices.

Kjell accidentally catches Stig wandering around Viola's home, forcing him to admit the affair. Kjell reveals he knew about it all along but couldn't act, exposing the couple's fragile marital problems. The disclosure deepens Stig's entanglement and his sense of betrayal.

Kjell's drinking grows more evident, and Stig begins to question Viola's hold over him and their relationship. The adult world around him becomes unstable, mirroring his own reckless attempts at affection. The tension foreshadows a broader familial fallout.

After a family party, Lisbet leads Stig to her bedroom and offers her virginity to him. He is flustered and withdraws, leaving Lisbet hurt by what she perceived as his disinterest. The moment exposes Stig's conflicted feelings about love and desire.

Feeling regret, Stig sneaks into the girls' locker room at school and hides in a vault to escape. Lisbet follows and climbs in with him, and they consummate their feelings in secret. The secrecy heightens the stakes and danger of their actions.

An alarming radio update reports a submarine explosion, and Sigge's letter confirms he was aboard that submarine. A devastated Stig keeps the news to himself at first, but his mother begins to suspect there is more behind his poor grades. The looming tragedy casts a shadow over the family.

Lisbet, now at the local cinema where Stig works, searches for him and walking in on him having sex with Viola in a storage closet. She is disgusted and rejects Stig's pleas. The discovery breaks any remaining pretense of privacy around their affair.

Stig goes to Viola's house intending to end the affair, but Viola, intoxicated and emotionally volatile, refuses to talk. He yields to her, deepening his entanglement and illustrating Viola's hold over him. The power dynamics in their relationship become increasingly unhealthy.

On the last day of the school year, Stig learns he will repeat a grade. He goes to Viola's classroom to retrieve his grade book, only to find the pages ripped out. At the same moment, a plane dumps fuel on the school grounds, injuring several students and shattering any sense of closure.

During a ceremony where Viola is handing out school reports, Stig bursts in and denounces her by exposing himself and refusing to take his report. The act is a dramatic breaking point, signaling a refusal to continue the hidden life with Viola.

The film closes with Stig exiting the school, suitcase in hand, carrying all the dictionaries he has stolen from Viola's desk. The image encapsulates his rebellion and departure from the life he once sought to navigate through secrets and lies.