The Danish thriller Boundless is the fifth installment in the Department Q movie series, a cinematic adaptation of a Nordic-Noir crime fiction series of the same name written by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The series chronicles the investigative procedures led by the titular, specialized branch of police, but given each of the cases is independent and self-contained, viewers don’t need to fret about continuity. Boundless follows the trio of Department Q investigators, Carl Mørck, Rose Knudsen, and Hafez el-Assad, reopening a cold murder case after events from the past begin to make their presence felt through situations that become increasingly personal to the investigators. While the case itself juggles with a number of themes and topics, ranging from necrophilic artists to hokey spiritual cults harboring dark secrets, past trauma, and dysfunctional relationships, a lack of suspense and a compelling end make this entry a one-time watch. There is definitely some inspiring visual stylization and strength displayed in acting, especially when it comes to the lead duo of veteran and rookie detective Carl and Rose, but the narrative treatment to untangle the central mystery will inevitably feel poorly contrived, which mars the positive sides in a major way.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did Christian Kill Himself?
Carl has been ignoring his former police academy batchmate Christian’s calls on a regular basis for the past three months, until one day he sends Rose to the island of Bornholm, where Christian serves as a police officer, to meet him. As Rose gets introduced to Christian, she learns that it is his day of retirement—early retirement forced by the department, if we are being precise with the details. While speaking with Rose, Christian shares his disappointment at Carl’s absence, mentioning that Rose is too late to make any difference. After sharing his inspiring final words with his department about the desirable qualities of an investigator, Christian speaks about his belief in justice, as all of a sudden he holds his comrade, Police Commissioner Henrik Bak, at gunpoint. Christian forces Bak to record his actions with a camera as he reveals Carl Mørck’s name written on his hand and takes his own life by shooting himself to death. Rose witnesses the incident as she was present there, and can’t help but find a personal connection with the harrowing incident, as it is revealed later that her abusive father had killed himself after Rose retaliated with violence.
The news of Christian’s demise brings Carl to Bornholm, and Bak, who used to be Carl’s police academy batchmate as well, clearly isn’t on good terms with him and already wants him gone. Carl and Rose learn that Christian was in a poor mental state following his inability to solve the murder investigation of a certain Alberte Schneider, a 21-year-old teenager whose corpse was found on the branch of a tree—posed in a way that seems morbidly beautiful. Christian investigated the case for seven years, and his obsession with the case resulted in his separation from his wife June, which affected his professional career to such an extent that the department handed him an early retirement and shelved the case as a car accident. Christian might have held certain resentment towards Bak, as he was initially assigned to the case, and after handing it over to Christian, he shrugged off his responsibility—and even at present, when Carl questions him regarding the case, Bak is too eager to keep the case under the wraps. Although it initially seems there might be something fishy going on in the PD, later it’s revealed to be a foolhardy Bak’s attempt to hide his own ineptness. Carl was the most promising candidate in the academy, and Christian wanted him to look into the murder investigation. The investigation itself took Christian’s life. Carl feels apologetic for not being present when his friend needed him most, but now he wants to distance himself from the case—much to Rose’s dismay. The reason is quite personal, more than Carl himself knows.
Carl’s Personal Connection
As Carl and Rose go to Christian’s residence to find clues, they come across a young man in his 30s inside the house who dies after overdosing on narcotics. The person is revealed to be Bjarke, Christian’s estranged son, who had a prolonged history of substance abuse. Carl goes to meet with Christian’s ex-wife, June, who is quite obviously devastated after losing both her ex-husband and son within a brief period of time, but the reason for Carl approaching her isn’t merely to convey customary sympathy towards his friend’s partner. It is revealed that Carl and June were having an affair, which is the reason why Carl was avoiding Christian out of a sense of guilt and initially didn’t want to take up the murder investigation. Much to Carl’s shock, June reveals Bjarke was his own son, and she never shared the truth with either Christian and Bjarke—who didn’t share a good relationship with each other. The shocking revelation arrives suddenly for Carl to handle, but to add more to his surprise, a local acquaintance of his, Marie Frandsen, reveals in a cryptic manner that Bjarke might have had something to do with Alberte’s death and the fact that Alberte was in love with someone. After Carl leaves to process the sudden influx of shocking updates, someone attacks Marie at her home and rips out her tongue—possible to ensure the secrecy of their involvement with the case.
A Twisted Artist
It should be mentioned that by now, Assad has arrived at Bornholm as well, and he accompanies Rose to Alberte’s boarding school to learn about her background. One of the school staffers, Simon Fabian, reveals that Alberte had a very creative and morbid imagination and hints at her having connections with someone in the faculty. Rose gets intrigued by a workshop of the Osiris Academy of Enlightenment, which is conducted at the school by a woman named Pirjo, who tries to rope in Rose as a possible future member of their group. Later on, Simon is revealed to be a lecherous pervert as he tries to make advances towards Rose, and she responds to that aptly.
After learning about Marie’s condition, Carl questions her to get clues to identify her attacker, and Marie notes down ‘SVK’—which Carl is able to connect with the initials of Alberte’s art teacher, Stefan Von Kristoff, a disgraced artist who is revealed to be secretly a necrophile. Stefan had feelings for Alberte and suffered from a crippling sense of failure and rejection due to his professional life being an absolute mess, but he refuses to have anything to do with Alberte’s murder. However, Stefan reveals that Alberte was pregnant at that period of time, which adds a new angle to the investigation. Eventually, pressed to a corner during interrogation, Stefan admits having posed an already dying Alberte by pinning her on the tree—to take macabre pictures of her, which he sold on the dark web to make money—and the assault on Marie is also revealed to be his handiwork as well. However, Stefan maintains that he didn’t kill Alberte, and upon getting an opportunity, he manages to escape custody to return to his workshop to create his ultimate masterpiece—a portrait of his own death as he ends up taking his life.
Pirjo and Atu’s Despicable Shenanigans
The Osiris cult comes onto the radar of the investigators after Wanda, a member of the group who was pregnant, is found dead near the shore, and it is revealed that Alberte used to be a member of the group as well. Pirjo and her half brother, Atu, were the founders of the cult and secretly had a relationship with each other. By preying on the insecurities of vulnerable women, such as Alberte and Wanda, Atu continued to have sexual encounters with them, and the ones who became pregnant with Atu’s child faced Pirjo’s wrath as she systematically killed them. Shirley, one of Wanda’s friends, a new member of the cult, came to know about the conspiracy—and she was killed by Pirjo as well.
To investigate the involvement of the cult, Rose decides to infiltrate their ranks as well, but Atu is able to take over her mind as well by using her past trauma. In the meantime, Pirjo gets pregnant with Atu’s child, and Carl learns about their disturbing relationship. The final clue that allows Carl to connect the cult with Alberte’s death comes from Christian’s research, as Carl finds out both Bjarke and Alberte were members of the cult, and he suspected Bjarke of being involved with the girl’s death.
Who Killed Alberte Schneider?
As Pirjo and Atu’s troubling past comes to light, Carl and Assad realize that Rose has put herself in grave danger by choosing to infiltrate their cult. Upon their arrival at the cult headquarters, Pirjo incapacitates Carl, realizes Rose’s true identity, and, after knocking her out, leaves her captive inside a chamber. While having a grueling fight with Rose, Pirjo suffers from miscarriage, and as she shares her misery with Atu—while revealing the fact that the authorities have finally caught up to them—her half-brother abandons her to save his own skin and leaves. Assad rescues Carl, and the duo manages to save Rose just in time, and eventually they catch up with Atu as well, who gets cornered at the edge of a seafacing cliff, still continuing his cult mumbo-jumbo rant.
At this point, a strange narrative choice results in the unraveling of the murder mystery in a most peculiar way, for which viewers surely weren’t prepared. June, who has driven to the location, approaches Carl to reveal the fact that it was she who is responsible for Alberte’s death, and her son, Bjarke, was innocent. She reveals that after becoming a member of the Osiris cult, Bjarke found peace of mind and left his addiction for good. But in the aftermath of Alberte becoming pregnant with Atu’s child, Pirjo had commanded Bjarke to take Alberte’s life, which resulted in Bjarke suffering from mental breakdown in front of his mother due to the sheer pressure of such a diabolical order. To save her son from misery, June made an impulsive decision on the fateful day as she spotted Alberte riding away in her bicycle and ran her over. After Alberte’s death, Bjarke was excommunicated from the cult, and he relapsed, which ultimately claimed his life. The reason June didn’t reveal this earlier was to protect her son, and after Bjarke’s demise, she is no longer constrained by that stipulation. Now, even though June was Alberte’s killer, it was Pirjo and Atu’s actions that acted as the trigger, and the duo were indirectly responsible for Bjarke’s demise as well. In order to make the deranged cult founders pay, June rams her car onto Atu and drives over the edge of the cliff, and the resultant accident claims both their lives. With Pirjo in custody, the vile machinations of the siblings are put to an end at last.
Later, Carl, Rose, and Assad are seen back in their Copenhagen office of Department Q, going about their usual routine. Rose seems distant for a couple of moments, but soon returns to reality and gets busy with paperwork. The experiences of Bornholm have left a scar in her psyche, which will be tough to erase. The least she can try is to keep the memories at bay by submerging herself in work.