The Passion of Anna

Andreas Winkelman is living alone and emotionally adrift after his marriage breaks down. A neighbour named Anna arrives and asks to use his phone, moving with a cane and clearly troubled. The chance encounter hints at a beginning of a fraught connection between them.

While Anna uses the phone, Andreas cannot help listening in on her conversation. He picks up fragments of her troubles, and Anna departs in tears, leaving an impression of shared pain. The moment plants seeds of curiosity and unease about their bond.

Anna leaves her handbag behind at Andreas' place. Curious, he looks through it and finds a letter from her husband revealing unhappiness in their marriage and fear of possible psychological and physical violence. The discovery deepens the tension between the two households and signals deeper secrets.

Andreas takes the handbag to Anna's home and is greeted by Eva and Elis, a married couple in psychological turmoil. Elis, an architect and amateur photographer, offers to take pictures of Andreas and hints at using his influence to help with finances. The meeting expands the social web around Andreas and introduces the couple who will become central to the story.

Elis photographs Andreas and agrees to organise the validation of a bank loan, giving him a typing task to demonstrate his ability to repay. This moment shows Andreas striving for money to secure his future. Eva observes the dynamics and cautions Andreas to tread carefully with Anna.

One night Eva visits while Elis is away; they listen to music and drink wine, and Eva falls asleep on the sofa. They become intimate, and Eva recounts a traumatic past pregnancy loss caused by a mistaken insulin treatment, the only time Elis is seen to weep.

Andreas and Anna begin living together at his house. Anna becomes zealous in her faith and relentless in her search for truth, while delusions surface, including a troubling dream of being stranded on an island amid war. Andreas cannot shake his anxiety and disconnection, worsening their fragile relationship.

Across the island, acts of animal cruelty—dogs hanged in trees and sheep killed—unfold. A loner neighbour is suspected and later commits suicide; a police letter to Andreas describes how the man was beaten by a group of men, pushing him to end his life. The grim events amplify the sense of threat surrounding the couple.

During a wood-chopping quarrel, Anna provokes Andreas as he wields an axe and nearly drives it into the wall near her head. He stops short but then slaps her, marking a brutal escalation in their already unstable relationship. The moment foreshadows the violence that colors their life together.

Two fire engines rush past to a distant farm where the perpetrator has struck again, dousing a horse in petrol and locking it in before setting the stable on fire. The horse dies in the blaze, underscoring the brutality spreading across the island. It becomes clear that Andreas' friend was innocent and unjustly persecuted.

Anna arrives at the fire in her car and Andreas joins her as they confront the unfolding events. He reveals that he has read the letter from Anna's husband, realizing she has lied about their happiness. The confrontation deepens the rift and intensifies their crisis.

In the car, Anna refuses to answer whether she intends to kill him and finally says, 'I came to ask for forgiveness.' Andreas tells her they should part ways, and she drives off in silence. The moment seals their breakup and pushes toward the film's final tragedy.

The last shot lingers on Andreas as he kneels in a grainy close-up, and a voice-over proclaims, 'This time he was named Andreas Winkelman.' The line caps a portrait of a man defined by the names others assign and the violence surrounding him.