User reviews

A Norwegian thriller based on true events.

This kidnapping story could have been packed in one movie and not divided in seven hours episodes. Too long because it couldn't keep enough my attention with suspense or intriguing elements. At the end of the second part I switched off. Okay, in the first part these ingredients were shown but the longer it run the more I was bored to continue watching these seven part limited series. Yes, luckily only limited. Watch instead the top Hollywood kidnapping movies Trapped, Cellular with Kim Basinger, Panic Room with Julianne Moore or The Call with Halle Berry.

Vaguely remember the case on which this series is based. It was also relatively well reported here in Finland. The series follows events from different angles and perspectives. The series is followed episode by episode from the point of view of the police, lawyers, journalists and relatives.

I used to be in favour of a non-linear and multi-perspective series. Over time, however, the problem has become that these elements have become a way of prolonging the series without adding any value to the story itself or depth to the characters. I like slow-burning series, but there has to be a reason for that slow-burning. Nowadays, many series should just be a 1,5h movie because there is no true content for many episodes.

Fortunately, however, this series was different. Five episodes of guaranteed quality. I found that I actually liked almost every character in the series. I could relate to their perspectives and attitudes. The series illustrates well how easily our history and temperament can affect our ability to look at things objectively.

I also liked the fact that the personal lives of the main characters were referred and shown, but mostly in a condensed form. Glimpses. Everyone can then draw their own conclusions. For example, many police series stray far too much from the plot itself to deal with family traumas and other relationship issues. Of course, human being is a whole, but often too much emphasis is placed on these subplots.

Many people seem to be annoyed by the end of the series. The series is largely based on real events, including the names. In such cases, you cannot make your own artistic decisions. Personally, I liked the ending of the series. The way it affected the lives of the people involved.

It also reminded me of a case we had here in Finland. It was the case of Anneli Auer. She supposedly murdered her husband. However, the director of the investigation forbid the investigators of investigating Anneli Auer, even though she was the wife of the murdered and was present when the murder took place. Anneli Auer is an obvious psychopath and she was very good at manipulation. Anneli Auer was not taken as a suspect until two years after the murder, at which point no proper investigation could be carried out. The court acquitted Anneli Auer, even though she is very probably behind the murder of her husband. It really reminded this case in many ways.

Summary

The novelty of this cold and intelligent Norwegian series based on a real case is that each chapter focuses on one of the sectors involved in the case and as the investigation progresses.

Review

This Norwegian mini-series based on a true case recounts the investigation of the disappearance of the wife of a Norwegian billionaire, in what appears to be a kidnapping.

The novelty of this series lies in the fact that each chapter focuses on one of the groups involved in the case and as the investigation progresses, for example: the first focuses on the police and prosecutors, the next on the journalists who investigate the case, and so on. The change of point of view then does not imply flashbacks that return to certain events, in general, nor the absence of the other protagonists, who circumstantially pass into the background. I must add that there would be some important stratum missing as the protagonist of some chapter...

The tone of the series is cold but its notes on how these groups are related and how prejudices and personal stories work in their working hypotheses are very interesting (particularly in the case of the press) as well as on the role of cryptocurrencies in kidnapping for ransom.

Needless to say, the ending is disappointing, and for more than one reason (which I can't reveal).

This series frustrated me, although I watched it until the end. I found it extremely difficult to follow. But I wanted to know what was going to happen, since after all, this is based on a true story. With none of the characters I could sympathise, since they are all distant and dark. Moreover, and worst of all, I lost the thread of the story. At a certain point I did not even know anymore if I had seen already several characters that were shown. This is really a pity because the story in itself seems intriguing; the media parroting the police and one police officer even feeding deliberately the media with information. The female journalist that was courageous and probably right, hence different from her colleagues, lost her job and we did not see her anymore. There is absolutely nothing beautiful or interesting in the way this has been filmed, neither in the dialogues, nor in the scenery and definitely not in the way the story is told. The Danish series "The Investigation", on the contrary, tells in a magnificent way also a horrible true story and the actors are all fabulous.

Fascinating, detailed, intriguing examination of a real-life missing person case. Each episode follows one of the parties involved, ie the police, the journalists, the lawyers, and the story emerges from this fractured looking glass. All good and original and engaging so far. However, when it comes to the 5th and final episode, this series simply just pulls up the drawbridge on the story and gives nothing to the viewer by way of theory, explanation, new perspective. OK it's a 'true' story, more or less, and as such the jury is still out and no one has been convicted. But ending the series with little more than a shrug just confirms this as s a TV experience this is just a distraction for a few hours and with nothing to contribute to the subject it asks us to consider. To be avoided.

I stayed with this unusual mystery drama from Norway right to the end, but really rather wish I hadn't. It's claimed that the story was based on real-life events, but if that really was the case, then truth must indeed be stranger than fiction.

A middle-aged woman is forcibly kidnapped from her home while her billionaire husband is away. But no ransom note is immediately forthcoming and as home truths emerge about the state of the couple's marriage and in particular the elderly husband's extra-marital life, the mystery grows with every passing day, the latter documented by periodic datelines coming up on screen.

The two main cops assigned to the case are a woman and man team, she, a white woman, the dogged proceedural type, he, a younger black man, willing to think and work outside the box to try to crack the case, even if it means engaging with the criminal fraternity. The woman, as is commonplace in dramas like this, has family issues, in the form of her father who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease.

Also on the case is a determined crime reporter from a daily national newspaper who finally gets a break which takes him to Sweden, but unfortunately for him he's identified and gets badly beaten up for his trouble. It all goes down or so you're led to believe, to a climactic conclusion which at least from where I was sitting, seemed to leave the viewer high and dry.

Up until that point, it was just about okay as these Scandi-noir series go. With each episode coming at the story from a different angle, I found it too difficult to join the dots in the narrative which may have contributed to my disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the ending.

I appreciate that the original and unusual prismatic format adopted here may have been an attempt to freshen up the genre, but for me, it just felt like I was led up the path and in the end left absolutely nowhere by an over-enigmatic ending.

What was this about???? Seriously what they were trying to tell us? They ended up Show in the mid of nothingness. Absolutely this was a worst documentary I have ever watched. I believe the case managed just like documentary's. No one knows what they were doing. It took ages. I mean Did anyone ever watched before they published? What a waste of time! I'm shocked by the amount of people who seen this and rated higher than 2+!! Did they forget to publish last episode?if not what happened the case!where is the final explanations about the case? It should been a like 'guys we as a producers also ducked up while filming so we just left it. But here what happened to the weirdo husband'

Where is the rest of the series guys!. It gives a long time to nonsense and unnecessary details there it should focus on the case itself. We didn't get anything from the story or even have a right conclusion. Even if it talks about the influence of social media on murder case, the only episode that I felt that is deals with this topic was the journalist p1, and it was like one scene. I don't actually recommend it at all. Also it seems like there are missing episodes. If you are watching it please stop, cause it will have you abandoned literally in the middle of the plot. You can watch the 1st epi and move to the 5th immediately. However, you will get nothing 😊

The series was going well until the journalists showed up. Vultures and their unscrupulous obsession with scoops spoil everything they get involved in, including the movies. In this series, as in others, journalists show special abilities to manipulate, accuse and prejudge people, insofar as they gain something from it. In the case portrayed in the series, journalists contributed to the distortion of the facts. As shown in the series, the press elects a suspect and, from there, goes after information to corroborate their thesis. They talk to people who in one way or another have personal reasons to accuse the suspect chosen for the case. They confuse everyone and also the police. Therefore, the truth very rarely comes out.

Starts off good but the editing is atrocious.

I am unsure if this was edited down for the international audience - it could have been - because we get installing audio bugs in one scene, the next scene someone is arrested (without the use of the bugs), then we see hair found in a drain well... ???? ???? ?? What? ??? ?? When did they start looking in the drain? On what grounds is the arrest carried out?? What's going on? The editing and therefore the story is all over the place.

I had to stop at ep.3, it is just not worth my time to watch something so sub-standard. The norwegians really don't know how to make good tv shows/movies. They can learn from the swedes!

A police procedural/investigative journalism series set in 2018 and following in Lørenskog, Norway. It's based on an actual case concerning a wealthy entrepreneur and the mysterious disappearance of his wife.

Each 50-minute episode looks at a different facet of the investigation, though the flow is chronological. Anne-Elisabeth Hagen is kidnapped at the beginning of the first episode. Her husband, Tom (Terje Strømdahl), is a wealthy billionaire. The kidnappers make ransom demands.

Jorunn Lakke (Yngvild Støen Grotmol) leads the police investigation along with her partner, Micael Delvir (Kidane Gjølme Dalva). Erlend Moe Riise (Christian Rubeck) is the lead journalist for the local paper; he appears to have informants within the police department that give him tips to influence the coverage. Aleks Zaretski (Victoria Ose) is another journalist who thinks the newspaper should pursue more theories.

The investigation stretches over two years as police and journalists encounter deadends, unconfirmed circumstantial evidence, questionable procedures, and unreliable sources. In addition, they encounter many potential villains, including Tom Hagen. Nevertheless, the story's final resolution is realistic.

This movie was fascinating to watch in the context of the "She said" film I recently watched that touted the necessity and doggedness of good investigative journalism. "The Lørenskog Disappearance" is more ambiguous, raising questions about the relationship between the press and the police and the possibility of tunnel vision hindering both investigations. I thought it was well done, though several storylines were left undeveloped, and a relatively large array of bad guys made following things difficult.

This series was absolutely Boring! I tried to like this but I couldn't connect or care about these characters. Maybe the sub-twists with the father & daughter or the family with the baby. I could have used more depth in the characters. They seemed so shallow, not believable. I had no idea what was going on between characters a lot of the time and really didn't care. Can't believe I wasted time watching all five of the episodes. And that crazy ending! Talking about unbelievable! I wish I had followed my first mind and stopped in the middle of episode one but tried convincing myself it would get better. Definitely NOT TRUE!

It started out as a slow burn 'based on actual events' kind of story, but, disappointingly it became no-burn series that dragged on with nothing interesting being added to the story line. At the end, the greatest disappointment came when the story ended with no clear conclusion. It was as if an additional season was needed to bring on a proper ending. Better yet, as an earlier reviewer suggested, telling the story as movie instead of a series could have kept the pace up a bit more dynamically. Still, it was perhaps educational to watch the pace of life in Norwegian society, assuming the depiction was realistic. The acting was not remarkable, but also not off putting - just did the job. Overall, it was a take-it-or-leave-it kind of series being more of a leave-it and less of a take-it.

This is my first IMDb review, and I feel compelled to write after looking at the less positive reviews here. The Scandanavian dramas on Netflix have been among my favorite of all of their programs, and this one is near the top. The performances are consistently compelling, natural and believable, the directing taut, and, in the best sense, drama-free. The viewer really feels like s/he is in the middle of this complex drama. The story holds a mirror up to issues of class, sexism, police and journalistic bias without providing any easy answers. I was a bit taken aback at the end of Episode 5 that there was no Episode 6, but after some reflection, thought the ambiguous ending suited the series; however, seeing a note from other reviewer about it being missing, I"m sure that if it exists, it will do justice to what preceded it. If you're looking for something fast-paced, easy and prone to putting its thumb on the scale for the topics it covers, this show isn't for you, but if you want something superbly made and thought-provoking, I think you'll find this series well worth your time, whether 5 episodes or 6.

This is supposed to be a true story and it is very much _based_ on a true story, which by the way is still under active investigation. But the problem is that nearly everything in this show is pure fiction to the point that at times, I was wondering if it was bought by Hagen himself as disinformation or if it was written by some high school kids.

This should be criminal and I mean that literally. I truly cannot understand how Netflix could put its name on something like this. It is by far the absolute worst I have ever seen.

The fact that this is such a serious crime that is under active investigation ... I just cannot comprehend how this can be allowed to exist.