AllMovie

Interlaced with black comedy, this Swedish drama tells the tale of a 43-year-old bachelor schoolteacher (Tomas von Bromssen), with a painful secret, who makes an ill-timed confession and ends up accused and pursued for a terrible crime he did not commit. Torsten's ordeal begins during a PTA meeting when he gets drunk and publicly proclaims his long-time secret love for single mother/supermarket clerk Berit (Ia Langhammer). Prior to this announcement, Torsten had been secretly sending her poetic love letters. No one in town realizes that Torsten has never been with a woman. Berit too has a secret, though perhaps one that is not as well kept -- she is having an affair with Glenn (Mikael Persbrandt) the husband of her co-worker Vivianne (Anna Wallander). After Torsten speaks, the frightened Berit runs from the meeting only to encounter Glen, who viciously rapes her. The next morning Torsten gets fired. Worse yet, when news of Berit's rape leaks out, he finds himself blamed for the deed, and soon his life and property are in grave danger.