You Disappear Page #2

lawyer present during questioning.

The police should have informed you.

I can go there right away.

Thank you. His name is Frederik Halling.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Time to get up.

Oh no.

Winnie.

How long have you been principal of

Saxtorph Private School?

For about 10 years.

10 years?

Yes.

Did you like the responsibility?

Yes, I liked being there.

Have you noticed a change in your

behavior in recent years?

I can see now...

The amount of my private calls

compared to work calls has gone up.

So there's been a shift in relation

between work and private life.

Anything else you've noticed?

I've spent much more on clothes.

You have?

Yes.

I mean...

So we're looking at a potential

personality change,

and impulse control disorder.

Hi there.

Hi.

Hi. Good to see you.

Hi. Hi.

Frederik, we need to talk

about something.

Yes.

The summer break is over.

I think it's best for you to postpone

coming back to work.

Until we're sure you're well.

What?

If there's the slightest risk that

your condition might cause you

to make the wrong decisions, then

we think it would be best.

Laust, I won't make any

wrong decisions. I'm fine.

We just want to make sure

you're well enough.

I'm fine.

We want to be sure that you

are okay, right?

I'm fine...

Yeah but...

Do you want to keep me

away from the school?

No. But you'll be more upset than anyone,

if you make any wrong decisions.

I won't make any wrong decisions.

But what if?

It's worth considering...

Are you shutting me out of the school?

Of course not.

Are you shutting me out?

Stop it!

You keep saying it.

Stop being so aggressive.

Ow! Goddamn it!

Niklas.

There you are.

Why don't you answer your phone?

Get out, alright?

We have to talk about this.

Just shut up.

What about me, huh?

You guys keep doing crazy stuff.

Of course I think about you. I always do.

The hell you do!

And that's just how it is.

You know what?

It's not me that has done anything.

I haven't done anything wrong.

I've never been able to trust you.

I've never...

You try to drink yourself to death.

What's wrong with you?

Don't you talk to me like that!

Don't talk like that!

What kind of a mother are you?

Of course you can trust me.

Come here.

No! You can't just yell in my face without

thinking about my feelings!

Come here, sweetie.

No, don't.

I know it's difficult.

Go away!

Come here... Come.

Come here.

Laust Saxtorph.

You are chairman of the board

of Saxtorph Private School.

How long have you known Frederik Halling?

A long time.

Ever since the board hired him.

All those years I thought

I knew who he was.

In the period leading up to Frederik

being diagnosed with a tumor,

did you experience any change

in his behavior or personality?

I didn't notice any changes.

Were you informed of his condition?

Oh yes, but...

He assured me he felt fine, sol let him

continue his work as principal.

He is...

He was like a son to me.

Can we continue, Laust?

Frederik.

What you have done is unforgivable!

Do you seriously want me to believe...

Laust...

that bloody tumor is to blame

for you ruining the school?

Sit down, please.

You've ruined my life, my wife's life!

Frederik.

Frederik.

Frederik.

Frederik, did you really borrow money

from the school account?

I'm asleep.

Did you borrow money from

the school account?

I invested the school's money.

Why didn't you tell anyone?

Laust or someone?

Ehhh.

The price of copper dropped,

sol started investing in sugar.

But you don't know the

first thing about investments.

Guarantees, forged signatures, Frederik.

Really?

This is Mia.

She's new to the support group.

Her husband has been diagnosed with

a tumor in the orbitofrontal cortex.

This is...

Bernard Bergmann, defense lawyer.

My wife's brain injury affects

her energy, bodily functions and thinking.

We were in a car accident five years ago.

This is Andrea.

Hi. Andrea, biochemist.

My husband had a fall on a

mountaineering trip 18 months ago.

Yes.

He's in a wheelchair now

and has trouble speaking.

I don't understand how you all cope.

I'm very impressed. Year after year.

What you have to endure is much

worse than what I endure.

I don't think I belong here.

I think I'd better leave.

No you don't.

My husband is still the man I love.

His smile is the same,

and so are his interests.

He's just got some

physical challenges now.

Your situation is much harder.

Your husband's injury has you unsure of

who you're sacrificing yourself for.

I...

Mia, it's a comfort to me to have

realized that we're a biological system.

Biological system?

Yes. I am a biological system,

rather than a soul with a free will.

It makes it easier for me to cope when

I feel depression coming on.

What do you mean?

Well, I tell myself this...

"Some of my hormones are acting up now,

or some specific brain cells

are active right now,

and that's why I'm depressed."

And then you put on your running shoes

so the endorphins can cheer you up.

It passes.

Good feeling.

We aren't to blame for our situation.

Yes, come here and sit down.

Sorry. I'm not sure what came over me.

It's okay.

We in the Brain Injury Support Group

for Families read a lot.

We read about our partner's condition,

but also everything on neuroscience.

We are functionally blind two hours a

day thanks to 'saccadic masking'.

The brain eliminates some visual

impressions when we move our eyes.

Otherwise we'd get seasick.

We think we see everything because

the brain fills out the gaps,

with predictions about what we

would have seen.

Imagine if we were such a couple.

Think of something.

You want me to?

Yes, think.

Okay. I'm thinking.

What, here? Now?

But if the predictions of the brain

don't correspond with the situation,

we may make the wrong

decisions at critical times.

That would come as a

complete surprise.

Not due to an oversight,

but because our brain didn't

predict the situation correctly.

What am I thinking about?

Strawberries.

Strawberries?

Berries?

In Swedish it's strawberries..

strawberries.

But no, not that.

Yes it's true.

No.

What then?

Pol Pot.

You're thinking about Pol Pot?

Mmmh.

Why?

The world's tallest dwarf.

Why Pol Pot?

You go from thinking about

sex to thinking about Pol Pot.

Yes.

How did he get into your head?

It's weird.

Mia Halling, you have been

summoned to give evidence,

but as the defendant's wife,

you are not obligated to do so.

Do you want to give evidence?

Yes.

You may proceed.

Thank you.

Mia.

As we're discussing today how a tumor may

have changed your husband's personality,

I'd like you to begin by describing what

he was like when you first met him,

He was absolutely fantastic.

Frederik was a man people talked about.

He wanted to head a school,

like his father.

And then he got the job at Saxthorp.

At the age of 35, he was headhunted

to head Saxtorph Private School.

Yes.

Young for a principal.

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