Nicoline, a single and highly regarded prison therapist who is between jobs, takes a temporary post at a prison hospital, stepping in to handle the caseload left by a counsellor who resigned. Her arrival brings a cooler, more clinical energy to the unit, and she soon encounters Idris, a charismatic inmate with a troubling history of sexual violence who is nearing the point of unsupervised parole. The majority of Nicoline’s colleagues are confident in Idris’s progress and comfortable granting him trial periods of unsupervised leave, but Nicoline is uneasy. She sees in him a gleaming charm and a tendency to say what people want to hear, and she notes little signs that trigger alarms in her professional judgment—signs that others seem to overlook.
From their first tense interactions, the relationship is defined by distrust and tension. Idris asks to switch counselors, a move Nicoline rejects, accusing him of trying to pry into her personally and read her attractions. A night out with a coworker, Alex, ends with an improvised, intoxicated sexual encounter that complicates the professional boundaries at play. At work, Nicoline uses a threat of an indefinite stay to test Idris’s reactions, while she continues to challenge her colleagues’ rosy assessments of his trajectory, arguing that Idris’s easy charm often masks his manipulative behavior.
Over time, Nicoline finds herself increasingly preoccupied with Idris, tracing small details and visiting places he has mentioned, like a fast food chain he spoke about. She also tries to salvage a romance with Alex by showing up at a prison basketball game, but Idris’s presence and the broader tensions around him keep intruding on that budding relationship. This obsession bleeds into her professional life, and her doubts about her role intensify, though her boss remains unswayed by her concerns. On Idris’s first unsupervised trip, Nicoline secretly follows him to a remote beach, where the conversation stalls and Idris seems to gauge what she wants while offering nothing definitive in return.
Back home, the strain of the case spills into Nicoline’s family life, especially her relationship with her mother, which becomes more fragile as the situation grows more complicated. Nicoline initially tries to end the arrangement, but Idris reacts with anger and withdraws, even lashing out at a rabbit he cared for. Later, in an empty gym, Idris proposes switching counselors, and in a moment of charged tension, the pair share a kiss. The act unsettles Nicoline—she begins to doubt her own judgments and leans into a dissociative state, unsure how to proceed. When she attempts to consult her boss, she finds only an empty office, leaving her to confront the spiraling circumstances on her own.
Her intern, Marieke, eventually reveals secrets about Idris that Nicoline already suspects and acknowledges that she herself has sought him out in the past—visits to different fast food chains that make Nicoline feel foolish about her fixation. In an effort to regain control, Nicoline tries to restore order in her life, cleaning her apartment and attempting to create boundaries. Idris reappears, pressing to date her again after his release, and a tense late-night confrontation unfolds when a doorbell rings and Nicoline hesitates to answer. She confesses fear, and a heated argument follows, culminating in a devastating moment of exploitation: Idris rapes her.
In the aftermath, Nicoline returns to Idris’s cell and, in a disturbing turn, goads him into a moment of closeness outside the camera’s view. She then triggers her emergency alarm, prompting guards to intervene and remove Idris, who is implicated in the assault. The film closes with Nicoline alone in Idris’s bed, lingering in a fragile calm before she rises and walks away, leaving the room with a quiet sense of unresolved aftermath.
- The narrative unfolds with a stark, restrained tone that centers on the psychological tension between a trained professional’s obligation to protect and the dangerous pull of a patient who tests every ethical boundary.
- Themes of power, control, obsession, and the perilous line between care and coercion are explored through Nicoline’s escalating fixation and the precarious assumptions surrounding Idris’s parole prospects.
- The story emphasizes how personal longing and professional duty can collide in ways that reveal the limits of judgment under pressure, leaving viewers to weigh the complexities of accountability, consent, and the consequences of crossing professional boundaries.
