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Troll mates
Tuesday, February 3, 2026
But perhaps the most head-turning erotic scene depicting two characters doing the deed can be found in the Swedish fantasy thriller Border, directed by Ali Abbasi and released in 2018. The plot centers on Tina (Eva Melander), a socially isolated customs officer possessing a supernatural ability to smell human emotions like guilt and fear. Her mundane existence – spent living in a strained relationship with her layabout partner, Roland (Jörgen Thorsson), and visiting her ailing father (Sten Ljunggren) – is upended when she encounters a mysterious traveler named Vore (Eero Milonoff). Vore not only shares her distinct, unconventional physical traits but also challenges her understanding of the world by revealing their shared identity as (wait for it…) trolls, forcing Tina to choose between her loyalty to humanity and her true, primal nature.
Border defies easy categorization. It’s a mashup of many different genres and subgenres. It’s a fantasy film, body horror movie, romance, police procedural, coming-of-age picture, family drama, superhero origin film, arthouse indie, and even a work of queer cinema. But the film doesn’t immediately reveal that it’s a fantasy; it imbues social realism and matter-of-factness, especially early on as we see Tina at work as a security officer and at home with Roland – enough to make us believe that this is a plausible narrative about a specially gifted person perceived as ugly and how she will cope with this existence. It becomes so much more as the story unfolds, she is increasingly paired with Vore, and the troll revelation happens – with various aspects of troll mythology explored, including an appetite for maggots and insects, terror of lightning, and the human fear of changelings.
The aforementioned intimacy sequence involves strange, hidden sex organs and a lovemaking ritual we didn’t see coming. There’s also ample female nudity without being exploitative or titillating. The acting by Melander, combined with the Oscar-nominated makeup effects, makes for a fascinating character in Tina, who emotes more with her nostrils and upper lip than most thespians do with their entire face.
While the main plot and the prosecuting pedophiles subplot are intriguing, our primary fascination is with the relationship between Tina and Vore and the undeniable chemistry between these characters.
Fittingly titled, this film examines the border between the normal and supernormal, reality and myth, and human and animal. “A gnome or a changeling is an embodiment of the messy border between humanity and nature, the town and the forest, the rational mind and the sensual body. That’s perhaps why such creatures often inhabit liminal spaces—such as the trolls that harass those who try to cross the bridge under which the creatures dwell,” per Slant Magazine reviewer Pat Brown. “There’s something out there that Tina’s looking for, somewhere beyond the border between the human world and nature, and in one of the film’s most evocative shots, she reaches out toward a fox gazing into her bedroom from just beyond the window.”
Border is also a rumination on otherness and the physical and sociocultural differences that make us each unique, which can cause social rejection –cleverly using allegory to touch on topical sociocultural matters. “It’s about transgression and taboo, crossing borders and infringing limits: about culturally constructed wrongness and socially deplored differentness,” wrote Peter Bradshaw, critic for The Guardian. “Apart from everything else, it’s a satirical reflection on the minority experience, perhaps also inspired by the director’s own feelings about being an Iranian who has studied and now lives and works in Denmark.”
And this is unmistakably an identity crisis picture. Tina wants to learn who she truly is and came from. She discovers her true name is Reva, and her parents were used in experiments and tortured. She also learns, by the conclusion, that she is arguably more human – at least morally and emotionally – than she likely expected. She tells Vore at their last meeting, “I don’t want to hurt people. Is that human?”
(Spoiler) The conclusion, with a fellow troll – perhaps Vore –gifting her a baby troll, suggests that she can stay true to her identity, support and nurture her kind, and have a child after all (even though she was told she can’t bear children); but it also intimates that she can pass on some of the human traits she prefers to the next generation.
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To listen to a recording of our CineVerse group discussion of Border, conducted last week, click here (if you get an error message, simply try refreshing the page).
Border defies easy categorization. It’s a mashup of many different genres and subgenres. It’s a fantasy film, body horror movie, romance, police procedural, coming-of-age picture, family drama, superhero origin film, arthouse indie, and even a work of queer cinema. But the film doesn’t immediately reveal that it’s a fantasy; it imbues social realism and matter-of-factness, especially early on as we see Tina at work as a security officer and at home with Roland – enough to make us believe that this is a plausible narrative about a specially gifted person perceived as ugly and how she will cope with this existence. It becomes so much more as the story unfolds, she is increasingly paired with Vore, and the troll revelation happens – with various aspects of troll mythology explored, including an appetite for maggots and insects, terror of lightning, and the human fear of changelings.
The aforementioned intimacy sequence involves strange, hidden sex organs and a lovemaking ritual we didn’t see coming. There’s also ample female nudity without being exploitative or titillating. The acting by Melander, combined with the Oscar-nominated makeup effects, makes for a fascinating character in Tina, who emotes more with her nostrils and upper lip than most thespians do with their entire face.
While the main plot and the prosecuting pedophiles subplot are intriguing, our primary fascination is with the relationship between Tina and Vore and the undeniable chemistry between these characters.
Fittingly titled, this film examines the border between the normal and supernormal, reality and myth, and human and animal. “A gnome or a changeling is an embodiment of the messy border between humanity and nature, the town and the forest, the rational mind and the sensual body. That’s perhaps why such creatures often inhabit liminal spaces—such as the trolls that harass those who try to cross the bridge under which the creatures dwell,” per Slant Magazine reviewer Pat Brown. “There’s something out there that Tina’s looking for, somewhere beyond the border between the human world and nature, and in one of the film’s most evocative shots, she reaches out toward a fox gazing into her bedroom from just beyond the window.”
Border is also a rumination on otherness and the physical and sociocultural differences that make us each unique, which can cause social rejection –cleverly using allegory to touch on topical sociocultural matters. “It’s about transgression and taboo, crossing borders and infringing limits: about culturally constructed wrongness and socially deplored differentness,” wrote Peter Bradshaw, critic for The Guardian. “Apart from everything else, it’s a satirical reflection on the minority experience, perhaps also inspired by the director’s own feelings about being an Iranian who has studied and now lives and works in Denmark.”
And this is unmistakably an identity crisis picture. Tina wants to learn who she truly is and came from. She discovers her true name is Reva, and her parents were used in experiments and tortured. She also learns, by the conclusion, that she is arguably more human – at least morally and emotionally – than she likely expected. She tells Vore at their last meeting, “I don’t want to hurt people. Is that human?”
(Spoiler) The conclusion, with a fellow troll – perhaps Vore –gifting her a baby troll, suggests that she can stay true to her identity, support and nurture her kind, and have a child after all (even though she was told she can’t bear children); but it also intimates that she can pass on some of the human traits she prefers to the next generation.
Similar works
- Let the Right One In (2008) – A cold, realistic Swedish reimagining of vampire mythology centered on childhood loneliness, which is also based on a story by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
- Under the Skin (2013) – A visually striking "alien amongst us" story exploring humanity from a detached, outsider perspective.
- Raw (2016) – A visceral French coming-of-age horror using physical transformation to explore repressed desires.
- Lamb (2021) – An Icelandic folk-horror tale blending quiet domesticity with the discovery of a mysterious, uncanny newborn.
- The Shape of Water (2017) – A darkly textured romance between a societal outcast and a creature defying human classification.
- Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) – A gritty Mexican urban fairytale mixing cartel violence with haunting supernatural elements.
- A Ghost Story (2017) – A meditative look at a non-human perspective and the experience of being "othered" by time.
Other films by Ali Abbasi
- Shelley (2016)
- Holy Spider (2022)
- The Apprentice (2024)
