What Remains (2022)
Written by Megan Everett-Skarsgård and Ran Huang
Directed by Ran Huang
A Movie Review by Mark Walker
At a Scandinavian psychiatric hospital, an uneasy triumvirate of multiple murderer Mads, therapist Anna, and policeman Soren, all have a vested interest in unearthing the truth, and a deepening co-dependency threatens to consume them all. (IMDB)
What Remains: A Haunting Tale of Murder and Co-dependency
Any film that tells you at the start that it is based on or inspired by a true story is always going to be a draw, especially when talking true crime and serial killers. But does What Remains live up to the promise of the premise?
What remains follows Mads Lake (Gustaf Skarsgård) who may or may not have killed a number of young boys in the 80s. Already in prison for sexual offences against children, his own psychological conflict with events from his childhood unleash memories that move him to confess to a number of unsolved murders. This brings psychiatrist Anna Rudebeck (Angela Riseborough) into his life as she delves into his memories trying to understand Mads’ motivations and to uncover more of his victims resting places. When Soren Rank (Stellan Skarsgård) the detective who originally worked on the unsolved cases gets wind of Anna’s work, a dysfunctional trio is formed as all three attempt to uncover the truth around Mads’ confessions and deal with both past and present demons. It is a relationship that is destined to end badly and possibly leave the trio more damaged than they already are.

On paper that feels like a great premise.
It is not strictly horror, but it feels horror adjacent as the topic areas and the psychological elements of each of the lead trio’s lives should combine to make the viewer uncomfortable and uneasy.
Sadly, for me, I only felt uncomfortable and uneasy because the film is so slow. Don’t get me wrong. This is a good cast, I would never consider turning down a film because Angela Riseborough or Stellan Skarsgård were in it. It is also well directed, with some great cinematography; the muted colours and grey “sheen” to the film drive home the cold heart of the subject matter. And the ambiguity of the ‘did he or didn’t he’ plot.

But that doesn’t detract from the fact that What Remains is a slow film.
And at nearly two and a quarter hours, it takes its time. Now, I am not necessarily against slow burn filmmaking. After all, my favourite film is 2001 and you can’t get much slower, but at least with 2001, the story is moving forward all the time. However, with What Remains, I felt like we were going round in circles a little with the plot, some of it feeling fairly repetitive in terms of the sequencing.
Which is a shame as there is a decent film in here with excellent performances and potentially intriguing subject matter. I can’t help feeling that losing 30 minutes would have made for a tighter film as it would have been forced to focus more on the subject at hand. I didn’t feel myself being pulled into it in the way I would hope to be by a movie that is described as a CRIME DRAMA THRILLER on IMDB. What Remains is not what I would consider a thriller.
If you are in the mood for a (very) slow burning character study of a serial killer, then What Remains is a good option. But, at 2 hours and 11 minutes, I think you need to be in the right mood for the movie.

What Remains premiered exclusively on the Icon Film Channel from 3 June
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