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The Absent One stars Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Follow The Money, The Killing) as Department Q’s cold-case cop Carl Mørck, warming one of them up when he’s drawn to it by retired cop Henning Jørgensen (Hans Henrik Voetmann) who presents him with a box of evidence for him to check out about the murder of Carl and Marie, his twin son and daughter, twenty years earlier, and giving him a convincing reason to look into it, even though Carl’s partner, Assad (Fares Fares) refers to it as ‘the loony box’.
With the story often told in flashbacks, placed at just the right times, the crime took place at a posh, upper class boarding school and was witnessed by Kirsten-Marie Lassen (nicknamed Kimmie), portrayed brilliantly by Danica Curcic in the present day, and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as the teenage temptress, clearly a bit of a tart at school and, if she was around today, she’d be causing the likes of Adam Johnson a few problems! (Well, her character is 16, so technically, she’s too old for him)
Also tied into this are wealthy ex-students Ditlev Pram (Pilou Asbæk – Borgen) and Ulrik Dybbøl (David Dencik – Kidnapping Freddy Heineken) and Bjarne Thøgersen (Kristian Høgh Jeppesen) – the latter who was convicted amongst all this back in the day, and high-cost celebrity lawyer Bent Krum (Hans Henrik Clemensen), for whom Bjarne’s was his only pro-bono case.
With Kirsten having a connection to everyone’s world, The Absent One is a compelling enough revenge drama, but it does get a bit silly with Carl playing the maverick cop at times. However, it does all make for a well-told story with lots of secrets to be uncovered, and builds up to a superb finale, which is more than can be said for most Hollywood fayre.
The Absent One is released today in cinemas, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. Also, click on the poster for the full-size image.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 120 minutes
Studio: Picturehouse Entertainment
Year: 2014
Format: 2.35:1
Released: April 8th 2016
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Mikkel Nørgaard
Producers: Jonas Bagger, Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Louise Vesth
Screenplay: Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg (based on the novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen)
Music: Patrik Andrén, Uno Helmersson and Johan Söderqvist
Cast:
Carl Mørck: Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Assad: Fares Fares
Ditlev Pram: Pilou Asbæk
Ulrik Dybbøl: David Dencik
Kimmie: Danica Curcic
Young Kimmie: Sarah-Sofie Boussnina
Rose: Johanne Louise Schmidt
Thelma: Beate Bille
Young Ditlev: Marco Ilsø
Young Ulrik: Philip Stilling
Young Bjarne: Adam Ild Rohweder
Alberg: Peter Christoffersen
Marcus Jacobsen: Søren Pilmark
Børge Bak: Michael Brostrup
Lars Bjørn: Morten Kirkskov
Jesper: Anton Honik
Bjarne Thøgersen: Kristian Høgh Jeppesen
Tine: Katrine Greis-Rosenthal
Henning Jørgensen: Hans Henrik Voetmann
Bent Krum: Hans Henrik Clemensen
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.