TIFF 2026 Review: What Lies Between Us – “A powerful film”

“We’re in this together” seems like famous last words, when you know that eventually the opposite will be true.  In this twisty drama from director Amalie Næsby Fick, the truth will eventually come out, friendships will be strained, and lives will be changed.

Anne Sofie (Borgen‘s Sidse Babett Knudsen) and Sara (Sofie Gråbøl) are the types of friends that people envy.  They have an affable way with one another, and are the kind to sit outside drinking wine, laughing, and smoking cigarettes that have been snuck into a school function.  Their sons are just a year apart, but couldn’t be more different.  Anne Sofie’s son, Frederik, is poised to be a breakout tennis player, just like his mother was.  Sara’s Oskar is younger and more reserved and they wonder if he could even be on the spectrum as he doesn’t seem to connect with kids his age.

When a new kid, Neils Christian (NC), starts at their school and tennis club, the pair are actually quite welcoming to his single mother, Ulrikke (Asta Kamma August).  But then, an allegation of sexual assault happens involving the three boys and things start to unravel.  While Anne Sofie and Sara seem united and comforting to each other at the beginning of the investigation, they eventually start to doubt each other and their son’s actions.  When the truth eventually comes to light, that’s when What Lies Between Us shines, because it starts to delve into difficult questions involving the moral and ethical responsibilities of a mother trying to protect their son.

Anne Sofie is the overbearing “tennis mom” who is willing to do pretty much anything to protect her son’s potential, even at the expense of the futures of other children.  As she starts to look into newcomer NC’s past, which includes an assault, blame becomes easy to assign and a scapegoat seems to emerge.  Because once guilty, always guilty, right? People don’t really change.  The themes here are difficult, but Knudsen’s performance is what anchors this movie.  Even when her actions seem completely out of hand, you understand them.  Her extreme need to see her son succeed, to protect his (and her!) reputation, is of utmost importance.  Even as her best friend and son seem to suffer at her decisions.

A powerful film, if a little overlong, What Lies Between Us is a slow-burn, but engrossing drama.  And the tennis match played at the film’s climax is well edited and acted.  You feel the power and emotion behind the movement of the ball.  It’s not Challengers, but not many tennis scenes can be.  The fact that the cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen also worked on fellow Danish film 2012’s The Hunt doesn’t seem coincidental, since you can see some of the same themes move through the community in this movie.  Yet, I can see this film also working well as a play (think 2011’s Carnage, just don’t think about the director of that one), and that’s a compliment to how well this film is written by Sara Jønsson and Nikolaj Arcel.  What Lies Between Us challenges the audience to test their moral boundaries and it’s a gripping and thought-provoking journey along the way.

What Lies Between Us (Dobbeltfejl) had its world premier at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, September 11th.  For more information please head to tiff.net