Winter Silence (2008)

A man, a woman and their four daughters live in a log cabin in a snowed-in village that lies jammed between high rocky mountains. The catholic belief and strong belief in sagas has a great influence on their daily lives. After an accident whereby the man dies, the woman and their adult daughters are left behind in mourning. At that moment the atmosphere of the film becomes dreamy. A sort of winter sleep. Deermen appear. They are figures who determine the duration of the mourning period. The widow wants to be remarried for quite some time, because a life in the mountains is too difficult for a woman alone with four daughters. The deermen have no intention to end the mourning period, as they have a secret affair with her daughters. And as soon as they would "release" the widow, would the daughters be allowed to marry. Separate from the other characters is an 11 year old girl. She symbolizes innocence. The girl lies asleep in a simple room. A snow owl sits in the open window and looks into the room. The owl symbolizes the witness, who sees and knows everything, but says nothing, and at the same time symbolizes femininity. In another scene the girl stands in a valley between the snow covered mountain tops. She stands still and holds her hands open. The skies slowly fills with birds, which take off out of her hands, while we hear a song, sung by a soprano voice. The song is about a girl that is tormented by her conscience because she had given a boy a kiss. In another room of the log cabin, the four daughters are embroidering a table cloth together, which is meant for the trousseau. They each embroider a deer and the embroidering is done in a synchronized rhythm. Later they sit next to each other at the edge of a bed and whisper and giggle with each other, while they roll eggs with their bare feet. They do this in such a way which can not be distinguished from another daily routine. Their mother, the widow, looks detached out of a window at the night and moon sky. She sees a group of men in long black clothes with hoods. Each carries an antler on his head. The deermen walk by her house and further into the mountains. She thinks about her wedding, far in the past. At the end everything appears to have been resolved. After the long winter sleep, the first sun rays reach the village. The mythical figures have gone, only the antlers lie in the beds of the daughters. The four daughters stand on top of a mountain, above the misty lake and sing. The mother is outside and looks at the mountains. She bends over, carefully brushes the top layer of snow away. Snowdrops appear. She smiles.