Film

A woman (Tuva Novotny) wakes up in rural France with no memory: just bloody wounds and a sack full of cash. Wandering into an inn, she tries to piece together her past with the help of a local man. The TV news informs us that a politician has been murdered along with several others. Fishy-looking types are sniffing around for someone of her description. She needs to get out of there fast.

It’s a compelling if familiar set-up, inviting us to play sleuth along with our heroine, who despite her fluent French soon works out she’s Danish. The process of her discovery is rewarding, if a little too reliant on coincidence and the assistance of strangers swayed by her pretty face and confused demeanour. Learning that she’s called ‘Ida’ (hence the title’s wordplay), she bluffs her way through the Danish social scene, reluctant to reveal her amnesia lest it puts her at a disadvantage. Can she trust even those who claim to be friends and family?

Events take a less satisfying, if more action-packed, turn when Ida gets to the truth.  New characters aren’t given the time to engage and Ida starts to feel like a bit part in a much bigger film, one we never get to see in full.

Still, it’s a stylish Danish thriller that’s more than serviceable for fans of the genre, if not up there with recent Scandinavian hits such as ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ or TV’s ‘The Killing’.