If you are planning to watch the recent Danish film, “Loving Adults”, stop reading this now. What will come will be a SPOILER.

Okay, so it isn’t the greatest film ever made. It’s a simple film, well acted, and there is really only one plot line. You won’t get lost. It gets mediocre reviews on both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.

But what intrigued me (and entertained me) was not so much its twists and turns, but that each twist and turn was so unexpected. Here goes:

Christian and Leonora have been married for twenty years. He is half owner of a successful construction firm. She, trained to be a concert violinist, gave up her career to care for their only son, now 19, who needed care because of a chronic medical condition, now less severe.

All seems well, except for one thing. Christian falls in love with Xenia, a young engineer who works for him. Leonora finds out about the affair, much to Xenia’s pleasure. She wants Christian to leave Leonora, so the more Leonora knows, the better.

But Xenia does not count on one thing. Unknown to her, in order to provide medical care for their son (they brought him to the US for surgery, which saved his life), Christian, through his business, engaged in some sort of illegal activity which earned him unearned income, and which the company has covered up ever since. Leonora knows about the criminal activity and tells Christian that if he dares leave her for Xenia (leaving her without an income and with a son who still needs much attention), she will go right to the police and expose the fraud and, as far as she is concerned, Xenia will have the opportunity to visit Christian for the next several years in jail, and his business will fail.

What to do? Christian can think of only one thing. Leonora is a runner. She runs lengthy distances every morning, generally on the same route, wearing a dark red hoodie. Christian decides he run her over and get her out of his way. He drives up to her from the rear as she runs along a country road, hits her, sees her still writhing and backs up and runs over her again. Then he drives to the car wash, and then home.

His son notices that he is nervous and asks him what’s wrong. He, of course, says he is fine. And he is fine, if shaken, until…….Leonora comes in the room and says “Good morning”, and talks about a longer route she decided to use for her run that morning. Christian has killed a stranger, a young woman, a mother of three. It’s clearly a hit and run, and there is nothing apparently to tie Christian to the crime. He has an alibi; he was at his office and the char staff saw him there.

At the car wash, Leonora learns that her husband was there the morning of the accident. She asks to see, and is shown, the video of him bringing his car, which shows his concern that the front of the car is clean. She puts two and two together. She realizes that her husband not only wants to live the rest of his life with Xenia, but that her husband wants her dead.

Her reaction is not what you might think it would be. She suggests that Christian and she go out for a nice dinner to talk things over. She tells him, at a restaurant which has as a complete floor to ceiling wall a crowded aquarium-worthy fish tank, that she can get him put away both for financial fraud and for murder. But she doesn’t want to do that, she says, and she has another idea that will solve their problem and keep them together the rest of their lives. What does she suggest? She suggests something very simple. He should kill Xenia.

What? He can’t do that. Why not? He has already killed one person, and he did it in a way that left no trace of his guilt. And, with Xenia, he would have an active partner, Leonora, who would help him plan it out. Desperate, he agrees.

Of course, when it comes to it, he cannot bring himself to murder Xenia. But, don’t despair, Leonora knew he couldn’t pull it off, so she puts into action that part of the plan that Christian is unaware of. And, poof, Xenia is no more.

How can it be that Leonora herself is so cold blooded? Well, for that, you have to go back into her history, when Leonora was just a teenager, and her boyfriend died after falling off a cliff. He didn’t really fall, you see. He was pushed by young Leonora who found out he was cheating on her.

So what brought these two together – Leonora the murderer, and Christian, the future murderer? We are not sure. But all we know is that they never were caught, Xenia’s body was never found, and Christian and Leonora sold their house, left town, and, who knows, maybe lived happily ever after.

That’s it. A simple, unique story line. And a movie you now don’t have to watch. The film is about 1 hour and 45 minutes long. It only took you about five minutes to read this post. I saved you 1 hour and 40 minutes. You’re welcome.