In line with government guidelines, all patrons must show proof of vaccination upon entering the cinema screen.

Following a routine doctor’s appointment on Christmas Eve, Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig) discovers that the lung cancer she thought she had beaten has returned in the shape of a malignant, incurable brain tumour. The prognosis is bleak: one surgeon dangles the hope of a high-risk procedure, whilst another recommends that she get her affairs in order and accept the inevitable. Anja and Tomas (Stellan Skarsgård), her significantly older life partner, must grapple with the question of what to tell their children, the three they have together, and his three older stepchildren, all of whom have congregated at their home for the holidays, along with Anja’s father. There is also the question of their own relationship, which has, over the years, floundered under the weight of complacency and their demanding careers. Can this sudden crisis bring them together?

Notes by David O Mahony