The Rhythms

We’re in a Norwegian suburb in the middle of winter. The days are short and devoted to school, the nights are long and full of mystery. An eight-year-old boy lives with his father in a tall apartment block near the woods. There’s been an accident in the suburb, and he and his friends are obsessing over death. At a sleepover they pretend to be parents mourning their dead child, and in the woods they take turns pressing each other’s chests until they faint. But for this boy curiosity is tinged with personal fear; he spends restless nights checking that his father is still breathing, and he’s afraid of being alone. After learning that his teacher Pia had a short-lived relationship with his father, he starts seeking an intense physical intimacy from her, but she can’t give it to him.