The à re Murders is a five-episode limited series for Netflix based on a popular series of books by Swedish author Viveca Sten. (The Sandhamm Murders, which as of 2024 is ten seasons deep on Swedish television, is based on another Sten book series. Sensing a pattern?) In à re, Carla Sehn stars as Hanna Ahlander, a cop from Stockholm whoâs aiming for a little personal R&R in a northern tourist town full of skiing and other outdoor activities. But itâs trouble she finds instead, as Hanna joins local detective Daniel Lindskog (Kardo Razzazi) in the search for a teenage girl who has suddenly gone missing. There is another pattern weâre sensing here, and itâs how everybody Hanna meets â from her housekeeper, to Amandaâs friends and teachers, and even to the searching townspeople â could be a suspect. The Nordic Noir genre loves to pile up that suspicion like so much blowing snow.
THE Ã RE MURDERS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?Â
Opening Shot: The picaresque ski resort town of à re at night, as it rests along a mountainside nestled against Lake à resjÓ§n. At a teenage beer bash to celebrate Lucia, Swedenâs December festival of lights, Amanda (Freddie Moston-Jacob) calls her father for a ride home. No answer.
The Gist: Harald (Henrik Norlén) ignores his daughterâs call because heâs busy having sex in his car with his coworker Mira (Siham Shurafa). This was bound to be a problem, anyway â Mira thinks her husband knows â but Haraldâs infidelity is sure to become a bigger issue, since that missed call on his phone was the last time anyone heard from Amanda.
The morning after the party, as the girlâs mother Lena (Sofia Ledarp) grows more concerned, Harald checks with Ebba (Frida Argento). Amanda left the party late, Ebba says. She doesnât know where her friend went. But is the sullen look on her face just that of an indifferent teen, or is there more she isnât telling? Increasingly frantic, Lena alerts local police to Amandaâs disappearance, and soon Detective Daniel Lindskog (Razzazi) is bringing in dogs and coordinating locals for a foot search cordon. Amanda was a sweet girl, everyone in town says. But she had bad taste in guys. Which is what puts Daniel onto his first suspect, Viktor (Linton Calmroth), a seasonal worker â and known angry drunk â who had been seen with Amanda.
For Hanna Ahlander (Sehn), an officer with the Stockholm police departmentâs domestic violence unit, her solo trip to à re was supposed to offer calm. Enjoy her sisterâs luxurious vacation home. Take a deserved leave of absence from the stresses of her work, and from the mess of a dirtbag boyfriend who cheated on her. But with Amandaâs disappearance everywhere on the local news, and Amber Alerts blowing up her phone, Hanna feels compelled to follow the search. She arranges for a temporary posting with à re PDâs Birgitta Grip (Pia Johansson), introduces herself to Daniel, and joins the investigation into Amandaâs disappearance.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Well, Netflixâs own marketing for The à re Murders places the series squarely in the Nordic Noir category, and the streamerâs got lots of other options to check that box. Like The Lørenskog Disappearance. Or The Chestnut Man. Or A Nearly Normal Family. And Carla Sehn was also in the Swedish Netflix comedy Anxious People, which like à re was also based on a book.  Â
Our Take: If the first episode of The à re Murders feels a little brief â it certainly did to us at first â donât worry: itâs actually a three-parter, as the limited series adapts Hidden in Snow and Hidden in Shadows, the first two titles in author Viveca Stenâs ongoing series of à re novels. So the compartmentalization makes sense, and also helps goose the bingeability of this thing, since it tends to tumble together like a cohesive television movie. If there was ever a show that required Netflixâs insistent âplay next episode nowâ feature, this is it.
What exactly happened to Amanda? And what was she, and seemingly her friends, hiding? The initial setup of à re is intriguing, since it spends a lot of time establishing how Amandaâs dad is also concealing secrets, and perceiving everyone in town through a lingering camera lens, as if they just got done burying a body. Any of them could be part of Amandaâs disappearance; then again, none of them could be, too. Isnât that just the way with these Scandinavian thriller-mysteries?
But if thereâs another classic tenet to the Nordic Noir genre, itâs an investigator who harbors their own emotional damage, and we want to learn more about Hannaâs story, because the life she left behind in Stockholm seems full of broken pieces. Maybe sheâll put them back together again amid the scenic vistas of à re, known as the Swedish Alps. Then again, maybe her leave of absence becomes an avalanche.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: As the search for Amanda takes over the resort town of à re, an attendant at the ski hill switches on the lift. But he makes a startling discovery as the gondolas start to circulate.
Sleeper Star: Kardo Razzazi lends an easy naturalism to the role of à re detective Daniel Lindskog â weâre interested in seeing more of how Danielâs style works with big city police officer Hanna Ahlander.
Most Pilot-y Line: Itâs no spoiler to say that Hanna will join the search for Amanda the second she gets the Amber Alert on her phone. Even her sister knows this. âHanna, youâre in à re to take a break. You shouldnât get involved in anything like that right now.â
Our Call: Stream It! The à re Murders features all the hallmarks of the Nordic Noir genre as it turns two differently-wired cops loose on the mystery of a teenâs disappearance. Throw in some fantastic location shots of Swedenâs mountainous north, and weâre all the way in on this investigation.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Åre Murders’ on Netflix, A Swedish Series Where Police Investigate A Young Woman’s Mysterious Disappearance appeared first on Decider.
