I discovered this Norwegian treasure last year when I had an Amazon gift card and was searching for some great movies from around the world that I probably wouldn't find in stores. I instantly loved the movie so much that I planned to write a review and last Saturday's massacre in Norway propelled me into doing it. Norway is a wonderful country that I've visited five times. I want people to know the country for much more than just one horrifying event."Vinterkyss" ("Kissed By Winter") is an outstanding mystery-drama that has five main themes and nails them all – the power of guilt, the need to confront our demons, the universality of grieving, the danger of rushing to conclusions and the need to be forgiven. And the suspense is heightened through the frequent interspersing of past and present scenes, a la the TV series "Lost," which was released five months earlier.Victoria Söderström (played by Annika Hallin) is a medical doctor who resides in Stockholm, Sweden with her husband, Filip (Göran Ragnerstam), and their approximately 12-year old son, Sune (Axel Zuber). Their happy and settled life is shattered one October when Sune dies suddenly and unexpectedly, having collapsed while playing hockey. The movie then moves forward two months, at which time Filip is going through the grieving process but Victoria retreats to a small town in Norway.There she works at a medical clinic alongside the cordial Wibeke (Linn Skåber) The two quickly become friends, but any illusion that Victoria can escape her sorrow is quickly shattered. While playing in the snow, two children find a dead body just off a road. The victim is identified as a 17-year old Arab boy named Darjosh Ahmad (Jade Francis Haj), who had immigrated to Norway with his parents (played by Michalis Koutsogiannakis and Mina Azarian). Their home country is never identified but Norway has a large Pakistani population.Because Darjosh had been missing, his parents had feared the worst but still take his death very hard. The scene in which his mother weeps hysterically over his dead body is very disturbing; maybe the most realistic portrayal of extreme grief that I've ever seen.His parents want his body to be immediately released for burial, in accordance with their Islamic faith. But because the circumstances of death are unclear, Victoria must first perform an autopsy, much to the parents' discomfort.The police also investigate the death and question the town's snow plow driver, Kai (Kristoffer Joner), who they suspect killed Darjosh in a hit-and-run accident. Kai is a patient of Victoria's and visits her in the hope that she will help exonerate him. Shortly afterward, the two begin a romantic and sexual relationship. To Victoria, the relationship seems to be another attempt to escape her trauma. But Kai, though clearly having a potential ulterior motive, seems to be a nice person and sincerely like her. He also seems to be a good father to his approximately eight-year old daughter, Maja, (Klara Døving), who resides in Oslo, presumably with her mother.During the course of the autopsy, Victoria conducts her own investigation, to the anger of no-nonsense police officer Stein (Fridtjov Såheim). She learns that Darjosh had a contentious relationship with his father, who was unhappy that Darjosh was trying to repair his relationship his ex-girlfriend, who still resided in their home country and was now engaged to another man. That leads Victoria to conclude that Darjosh committed suicide, which his parents desperately don't want to believe, as suicide is a grave sin in their religion.And Victoria's suggestion that the suicide might have been provoked by Darjosh's father results in him becoming very hostile toward her. But despite their cultural and religious differences, Victoria and Darjosh's mother become somewhat friendly with each other through their common grief. But it's soon revealed that Victoria hasn't learned from a fatal error of her recent past.A series of flashbacks chip away at the deaths of Sune and Darjosh and also fully explain Victoria's torment – it turns out to be more than just her son's death. And in masterful fashion, the whole truth isn't known until the last scene."Vinterkyss" does more in its relatively short length of 80 minutes than lots of movies do in two hours or more. The first time you see it, you might be confused, as I was, but there's a method to the madness. By the end it all fits perfectly.Many European movies are very well written, which helps make up for their usually small budgets. But the writing in this one - by Ståle Stein Berg and director Sara Johnsen, both of whom were little more than rookies at the time – is brilliant even by European standards. And the production is maybe the best I've sever seen from a European movie, helped by a solid budget of about $2 million. Every frame looks pristine, bringing out to the fullest Norway's natural and architectural beauty – the peacefulness of which is powerfully juxtaposed with the intense sorrow that dominates the movie. And the performances are all outstanding and very realistic.Be forewarned that this movie that is often very sad and at several points depressing. But a few glimpses of hope shine through, especially near the end. And I've rarely seen a movie portray so many emotions and life situations so realistically, or teach so many important lessons - especially that when you can't undo the wrong you've done, the only thing to do is humbly ask for forgiveness. This is a must see for all.The movie contains no profanity and almost no violence. It's rated R for one fairly explicit sex scene, but if you don't want to see that, simply forward to chapter nine when you get to the 39:02 mark on the DVD. The skipped 52 seconds will make the movie suitable for family viewing!

Norwegian director Sara Johnson's Vinterkyss (translated into Kissed By Winter) is the story of a woman, Victoria, who loses her son and then moves to a small town in Norway in an attempt to distance herself from her situation. The themes of guilt and responsibility play a central role in this film, with Victoria, who is a doctor, dealing with the guilt of not having recognized the symptoms of leukemia in her own child. The other protagonist Kai also has to deal with this issue when he unwittingly kills a possibly suicidal man with his snow plough. The ensuing investigation into this man's death kept me unsure whether to view this as a drama or a murder mystery up until the very end. That Vinterkyss never fully settles into a comfortable genre made it impossible to simply react in a standard way to a genre, thus keeping the film fresh. The different viewpoints from which the film can be viewed also makes this film good for multiple viewings; for example Victoria's romantic relationship with Kai, which is presented as a natural and healing connection between the two, could also be looked at from the abandoned husband's point of view, or from the point of view of the townspeople, making it an entirely different film each time. It is very difficult not to like both main characters, seeing as the portrayal of both Victoria by Annika Hallin and Kai by Kristoffer Joner is done with amazing charm and warmth. The sincere love of Kai for Victoria and Victoria's inability to resist such a sweet man even in her difficult circumstances endears them to the viewer and makes you root for them, forgetting that Victoria's home situation is not something she can leave behind and still needs to deal with. The strong difference in the warmly-coloured shots of Stockholm which are shown as flashbacks and of the bleaker-toned events in Norway somehow manages only to highlight the positive aspects of each opposite; the beautiful Norwegian winter landscape is set off perfectly by the earth tones of urban Stockholm. Contrary to what is expected of Norwegian nature visuals, the shots in Vinterkyss are kept very shallow; the horizon is never clearly visible which creates a hemmed in feeling. This claustrophobia could be seen as a metaphor for Victoria's state of mind and her location. Victoria herself is continually shot noticeably close to her background and distant from the viewer, supporting Victoria's feeling of being cornered in a situation with the only solution being to return home and deal with her grief, a solution which she resists for as long as possible. Finally, even though this film was a thoughtful and considerate emotional drama, what really made me love it were the occasional moments of down-to-earth humor. This was mainly portrayed by the two peeping little boys who see everything and know everything first, but charmingly seem to keep everyones secrets for them. Vinterkyss similarly bares everything in Victoria's grief process, but still retains its simple charm and sympathizes the viewer to the very human and imperfect experience of Victoria.

The title of the film functions as a metaphor, meaning a sudden encounter with loss, grief and affliction. Victoria, the protagonist, is the one who was "kissed by winter". She escapes from Stockholm and holes herself up somewhere in the north of Norway in order to forget about her past. Then, unexpectedly, she discovers that she is not the only one who has to deal with a personal tragedy.Victoria's past is always present in her mind. We learn about that not only from the flashbacks of her former life, but also from the little gestures she does. When she examines the back of a little boy, one can sense that she thinks of her own son. Later she repeats this gesture when she makes love to Kai. No matter what she does, Sune in always in her thoughts. Furthermore, many children present in the story signify the embodiment of her sense of guilt. Thanks to many close-ups of astounding Annika Hallin, one's overwhelming impression is of an almost tangible tragedy.Some of the characters seem to play a role of "a mirror", in which Victoria can see her own reflection. For example, Kai was also abandoned and accused of murder, though not explicitly responsible. Therefore he can explain her - knowing from his own experience - that guilt and responsibility are two different things. On the other hand, Darjosh's father appears a very strict and demanding parent, just like Victoria used to be. But is that enough to blame both of them for the deaths of their children? Apparently, none of the characters will ever recognise the entire truth about Darjosh's death. The crime investigation woven into the plot fails to directly name the responsible. Clearly, some issues are beyond the scope of morality and cannot be easily judged. This message is emphasised by the usage of the song "Hallelujah" repeated in the film twice and performed by the late Jeff Buckley, who himself died in similarly unexplainable circumstances.In order to get back to her normal life, Victoria has to accept the reality as it is. She also has to "unfreeze" her emotions and learn how to forgive. Sara Johnsen does a fantastic job, portraying her character's gradual change in a slow pace. This meditative and moving film leaves the door open for a little hope at the end.

Loss of children, loss of life companion, the loss of meaning of life, still having to go on. A story of life and loss, realistic without any absurd twists. A Swedish female doctor goes to job in the Norwegian countryside to get away from her feelings after her son's unexpected death. Only to meet more of it, at the same time as she also finds positive things in life, dealing with her own trauma. A film that makes you think about life, and the way we live it. A close, near story, but not without us questioning her doings. I find the film could easily be made more touching and more sentimental, but the realistic setting of a true life story is compelling enough. The story is revealing how easy it is to misunderstand and misinterpret actions in a situation where you're looking for reasons, that may be not there in the first place. Life is not always reasonable...