“Betrayal can break a person’s mind to the core.” “Loving Adults” is a 2022 crime-thriller Danish film on Netflix that speaks about all the damage done through infidelity. Every time a person has to face this situation, they have to go through multiple dynamics at once since they’ve created a whole different perception inside their mind for their partner. The same thing happened to our leading characters, Christian (Dar Salim) and Leonora (Sonja Richter). The fact that the creators of this film captured the true authenticity of having a person deal with heartbreak is overwhelming. And guess what? All of this sort of pulled Leonora into a toxic personality, and it is pretty understandable since she has dedicated half of her life to this man. Now he was all set to replace her with someone that didn’t deserve this treatment in the first place. With each scene, viewers will be introduced to different perspectives, and this might confuse many of them into thinking about which character is supposed to be trusted. Moreover, Loving Adults is entirely adapted from the novel by Anna Ekberg. Also, various factors come into play when you watch this movie since jealousy and passion play a significant role in the film.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The ‘Loving Adults’ Film?
The movie begins with a strange narration of Christian and Leonora’s lives. It seems that this couple is going through a rocky period in their lives. Since then, Christian has been lurking in the dark to end Leonora’s life with an accidental hit-and-run case. Talking about their present life, Christian and Leonora have been with each other for decades, and together they have a beautiful son named Johan. But things became monotonous as Johan suffered from several illnesses, and it only got worse with time. But finally, they were back on track as, after a lot of treatments, he seemed to be getting healthier. Moreover, Johan’s getting along with his new classmate Martha as well. But situations are quite worse on the couples’ side. Christian is greeted with a text message at 4 AM, causing Leonora to wake up.
Also, her intuition hinted to her that Christian was cheating on her. So, the moment she asked for his phone, Christian began coming up with multiple reasons, and the argument ended up with a broken phone. The morning arrives, and Leonora apologizes for her mistake, but this hasn’t stopped the turmoil inside her heart. She knew something was wrong as her husband seemed to be very distant from her. Christian avoided any kind of physical contact, and guess what? Her instincts are true. Christian was having an affair with his colleague Xenia Mikkelsen (Sus Wilkins). Leonora spotted them together, and instantly she was devastated. Immediately, Christian took this opportunity and spoke to his wife about separation. But, he was enlightened that Leonora knew everything about him and Xenia.
There was more to this story; a huge scam connected to Johan’s treatment, and this was something that could destroy Christian’s life. Christian manipulated the changes in the exchange rate as he owned a construction company, and Leonora’s complaint could land him in huge trouble. Leonora begins to get more and more paranoid with each passing day, as her insecurities are eating her up. She was determined to keep her stance, and things became even more devastating for Leonora after she spotted Christian with Xenia’s family. Surely, this betrayal was taking a huge toll on her mind, and as the movie moves ahead, viewers will understand that there’s more to know about Leonora’s character.
Leonora and Christian’s argument reached a point wherein it was non-negotiable, and she tried to make a deal with him. To ensure that he didn’t get arrested, Christian was not ready to leave, and Leonora just had one condition, and that was to break off all things with Xenia. But Christian couldn’t do that, and in a fit of rage, Leonora kicked him out of their house. Well, Christian couldn’t take this well, and he planned to kill her while she was out on her jog as usual. And guess what? Plans went as he wanted, and Christian drove a car through her and went back home as if nothing had ever happened. But things become even scarier when Leonora comes back home safe and sound. Then who was the person that Christian killed?
How Did Infidelity Affect Leonora?
The fact that Leonora would crawl up to her bed and cry to herself was indeed heartbreaking. But throughout all this pain, she was determined to keep this family together. Leonora tried her best to make Christian understand that they’ve been together on this journey, and all this time, they made a pact to look after their son. But Christian doesn’t care about anything; he just wants to be excluded from her and live his life with Xenia. Leonora used to be an excellent violinist in the past, and it’s been more than twenty years since she didn’t play the violin. As a woman, Leonora sacrificed everything to keep this family alive, and for this, she chose Christianity over her career. But Christian wasn’t bothered, and he just wanted her to move on.
Moreover, Christian wanted to know more about Leonora’s past, and the main reason behind this quest was to find someone who could be a support to his wife. So, he decided to visit another city and meet Leonora’s old friend Kassandra. But many shocking details were revealed about Leonora, and according to Kassandra, Leonora had experienced the same situation of betrayal in the past as well. Moreover, she never spoke about her old boyfriend, Mike, to Christian. Upon questioning, Christian realizes that there were rumors around her town regarding Leonora’s presence in Mike’s death. Soon after, Mike cheated on her with Sonja, and soon he was found to be dead as he fell off of a cliff. Well, according to Sonja, she spotted Leonora, but there were certain times when she messed up her answers during the police questioning. So it was never proven.
Little did he know that Leonora was following her to the town and even spotted him at the cliff where Mike’s body was found. But he quickly left the spot and visited Xenia’s parents, and this was seen by Leonora too.
‘Loving Adults’ Ending Explained: Who Did Christian Kill?
Christian hit another woman who was dressed up like his wife, and he was so stuck in his rage that he didn’t even bother to check. Since Leonora had this usual route, he waited for her in the dark and then ran the car over an anonymous lady and mistook her as his wife. This incident was all over the news, and day by day, Christian was breaking down since he had committed a huge sin. Meanwhile, Leonora begins to unravel the mystery one by one. The main link was left out at the car wash center where Leonora’s card was used on the same night when that lady was killed. This was enough for her to understand that the accident was meant for her. Upon realizing that her husband was planning to kill her, Leonora instantly loses it and calls the police. But before he can do anything, Christian accidentally creates a fake storyline about spotting a car at the murder scene.
Now, Leonora is no saint. To keep her son happy, she places a deal ahead of Christian. Now, this deal is very disturbing since her only wish is to have Xenia dead, as Christian wanted Leonora to be. Christian was stuck in a mind-bending situation since Leonora wanted him to be the one to end Xenia’s life. Moreover, when Leonora enlightens him with the ultimate truth about Mike, it becomes pretty clear that all the rumors about his death are true. Leonora was a master trickster. She used sound as her greatest alibi. The reason she was never convicted of this crime was that her violin teacher heard her practicing all day. But she just replayed her music through a tape. Christian knew that he had gotten himself into a very compromising situation, and now there was no way out.
Christian and Leonora planned an outing together at a spa in KongebrogÃ¥rden, and they had this one chance to kill Xenia. As it was planned, Leonora stages her husband’s presence in the hotel room where they were staying, and amidst all this, Christian sneaks out and meets with Xenia. As soon as everything is done back at the hotel, Leonora approaches her house and stabs Xenia, which in turn kills her. Christian is devastated, but he had to agree with everything, and they erased all the fingerprints from her house. But the police were able to track down Christian’s involvement in Xenia’s life through her text messages. Well, the police arrive at their house, and while interrogating Leonora, she takes his side and confesses that both of them have had lovers in the past. And the main reason behind all this was Johan’s sickness.
The creepiest part about the whole murder was that Xenia’s body went missing, the police began patrolling the whole forest, and guess what? The body was hidden amidst the fire pit that Christian and Peter created to celebrate Christmas Nights. Christian and Leonora moved out of their house and dumped her ashes and bones into a river. The whole story is narrated by the police officer (Mikael Birkkjær) himself, but there wasn’t a single clue that he found, but he knew everything about their master plan. Loving Adults is a dark crime story that highlights that hiding a lie can lead you to suppress hundreds of different lies. It gives us a deeper insight into how infidelity can ruin lives. Christian and Leonora are going to be two criminals spending their lives together to hide their biggest crime. “Loving Adults” ends with this message: the fact that Xenia was caught up in all this mess will be heartbroken forever.
“Loving Adults” is a 2022 Danish crime-thriller film streaming on Netflix with subtitles.