Anne, a brilliant and dedicated advocacy lawyer specialising in society’s most vulnerable, children and young adults, lives what appears to be the picture-perfect life with her doctor-husband, Peter, and their twin daughters. When her estranged teenage stepson, Gustav, moves in with them, Anne’s escalating desire leads her down a dangerous rabbit hole which, once exposed, unleashes a sequence of events destined to destroy her world.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.5/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.9/10
Director
May el-Toukhy
Production
DR, SVT, Nordisk Film Denmark
Cast
Trine Dyrholm, Gustav Lindh, Magnus Krepper, Liv Esmår Dannemann, Silja Esmår Dannemann, Stine Gyldenkerne, Preben Kristensen, Frederikke Dahl Hansen, Ella Solgaard, Carla Philip Røder, Peter Khouri, Mads Knarreborg, Marie Dalsgaard, Elias Budde Christensen, Noel Bouhon Kiertzer, Nessie Beik, Stanley Bakar, Anders Hedegaard Andersen, Mathias Rahbæk
Where to watch
Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, morally corrosive psychological drama with strong performances and a deliberately unsettling slow-burn structure. It’s not for everyone, but if you want a polished taboo thriller that keeps tightening the screws, it delivers.
Best for
viewers who like transgressive psychological dramas
fans of slow-burn character studies
audiences interested in power, secrecy, and moral collapse
people who appreciate unsettling European art-house filmmaking
Skip if
you want sympathetic characters or emotional comfort
taboo subject matter is a hard no
you prefer plot-driven thrillers over psychological unease
graphic sexual content and ethical ambiguity are dealbreakers
Overview
Queen of Hearts is a sleek, controlled descent into self-destruction. It starts as a polished domestic drama and gradually reveals how much damage can be done when privilege, desire, and self-justification collide. The film’s power comes from its restraint: it doesn’t rush to shock, it lets the discomfort accumulate until the situation feels almost unbearable.
Worth noting
Trine Dyrholm anchors the film with a performance that is both commanding and deeply unnerving. The movie is most effective when it stays close to Anne’s rationalizations, forcing the viewer to sit inside a character who can be intelligent, compassionate, and monstrous at once. That tension gives the film its bite, even when the material is difficult to watch.
Bottom line
This is a film about hypocrisy, manipulation, and the gap between public virtue and private appetite. It’s polished, cold, and intentionally draining, but also sharply made and hard to shake. If you can handle the subject matter, it’s a memorable example of a taboo drama that refuses easy moral distance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
otxjunior (4★) · 408 likes
Milfsommar
Lucy (4★) · 372 likes
“sometimes what happens and what must never happen are the same thing”
twisted and heavy. there are moments here that had me arguing with my tv, and some moments that i considered shutting the damn thing off. but to make a film that is simultaneously so pretty and so ugly... sheer brilliance
Jacob (4.5★) · 234 likes
Sundance 2019: Movie #5
To quote the famous poet: BOY THIS WAS FUCKED UP!
A slow burn that’s captivating right from the start but maintains a great deal of restraint before going completely in another direction. The graphic nature of a few key sequences (most of the film isn’t like this) serves well to covey to the viewer that there are no rules in this world. Nothing is off limits, and nothing is too far.
Undoubebtly one of the most… more
Ben Weitz (4.5★) · 164 likes
Have you ever watched a porn and thought, "this is a really interesting plot, I'm gonna make this into a feature film," cause that's what this was
nick (1★) · 123 likes
Queen of Hearts is the prime example of presenting a taboo story in the most problematic manner possible. It's inevitable depicting pedophiliac relationship without stepping on some dangerous landmines, and Queen of Hearts managed to trigger all of them.
Danish national treasure Trine Dyrholm played the source of all evil in this naturalistic thriller, a middle-aged rape case investigator, Anne, who ironically preyed on her step son sexually. Dyrholm took a huge risk with this daring role, executing her demanding… more
For viewers interested in erotic transgression, boundary-testing, and the collision of intimacy with self-delusion.
Topics
psychological drama, taboo, slow burn, moral ambiguity, domestic thriller, European art-house, unsettling, character study, sexual misconduct, family tension