Schneider vs. Bax

Schneider is awakened by his wife and two daughters who bring presents and plan a birthday dinner. The domestic glow masks his true life as a contract killer, and the day feels like any ordinary celebration. Beneath the warmth, a dangerous assignment lurks just over the horizon.

Mertens phones in with a kill that cannot be postponed. He assigns Schneider to murder Ramon Bax at a remote lakeside cabin, insisting the job be done today. The urgency injects the birthday day with a deadly deadline.

Schneider wrestles with the deception of taking a routine job that could be fatal. He decides to accept the assignment, cognizant that the target lies far from his safe domestic life. The decision tightens the noose of risk around him.

Bax, who also works for Mertens, is revealed as a hitman with his own demons and memory gaps. He contends with the looming possibility of Schneider as a rival and a dangerous memory of a missed contract. The remote cabin becomes a crucible for competing loyalties.

Bax's younger lover Nadine enters the scene, heightening emotional stakes and risk. Her presence thickens the web of alliances and threatens to derail anyone's careful plans. The cabin atmosphere grows tenser as the day unfolds.

Francisca, Bax's depressed adult daughter, arrives to complicate the situation further. Her visit brings personal unhappiness into the deadly scheme and foreshadows shifting loyalties. She becomes entangled in the men’s dangerous game.

Bax’s father Gerard appears, adding a volatile layer as he brings a new girlfriend into the already tense mix. The family drama collides with the hitman plot, escalating risk for everyone involved. The night intensifies around the remote cabin.

Seeking protection and plausible cover, Schneider arranges an escort he saved from a pimp to blend into the scene. The arrangement widens the circle of vulnerability and betrayal around the cabin. The plan grows more convoluted as loyalties shift.

Francisca uncovers that her father is a professional killer, not just a novelist. This revelation shifts the balance of power and convinces her to aid Schneider. The reevaluation pushes her toward decisive actions.

Schneider seizes Mertens to use him as a stand-in target for Bax. The plan spirals as both men maneuver and misinterpret loyalties while a hostage situation tightens the noose around everyone. The cabin becomes a theatre for escalating deceit.

Believing the contract fulfilled, Bax shoots Mertens and contemplates leaving the scene. The moment reveals how miscalculations and hidden loyalties can explode in a single act. The night grows darker as violence closes in.

Sensing Bax's threat and audacity, Schneider shoots to end the rival's hold over the situation. Bax's death removes a major obstacle but does not resolve the night's violence. The balance of power remains precarious.

Francisca retrieves her late grandfather's sniper rifle and trains it on Schneider, determined to erase the last witness to the killings. The final standoff reaches a fever pitch as she freezes the moment with cold precision. The cabin becomes a battlefield of wills.

Schneider disarms Francisca from outside, then enters the shack for a final move but chooses not to finish her. He steps back, abandoning the confrontation for the moment and returning to his family. The stand-off ends with a tense stalemate rather than a clear victory.

Schneider leaves the deadly game behind and returns to the family to join the birthday celebration he had anticipated all day. The film closes with a fragile sense of relief, tempered by the knowledge that violence and deception still shadow his life. The birthday dinner becomes a rare island of calm in a day defined by betrayal.