"Doesn't attempted murder mean anything in Serbia?" "Is this just some party game you fit into your lunch hour?" "I am still going to visit Alexander." "Because no matter how insane the three of you are,   he's still my son!" " So you do love me a little?" " Maybe." "Or else you're going to die..." "What the hell?" "Why should leaving each other   be such a difficult decision?" "You lived apart for 20 years before you met,   without any problems!" "You aren't even clinging to driftwood, you're clinging to a sinking anchor." "And that kid you adopted is on the same Titanic." "The band is playing Nearer, My God, to Thee, and you're in water to your ovaries." "You think being the same gender helps you understand each other?" "At every session for the past three month, you've had the same complaints." "Get the hell out of here!" " Things seem to be getting worse." " Not at all." "There's just a complete lack of self-awareness." "Most divorces occur when the couples start understanding each other." "Even swans split up when they can no longer brood." "Experiencing love has made you meaner." "Your dialect keeps that comment from making me sick." " Nice dress." "You working on a new novel?" " Yes." "Norway during WWII." "Traitors, the assessment of guilt." " And Trond Espen Seim isn't involved?" " An author has to evolve." "It's hard." "Sometimes it feels like my head's about to explode." "Good we have enough Kleenex." " I'm out of here." "Bye." " Bye." "Hi, we're in here!" "The hunter returns." "Was it scary among the frozen foods?" " Yes." "It looks scary here too." " Yeah." "I found this at mom's." "Bought it during an acid trip in Nepal." "But Leon likes it, so..." "Wow." "Know how long that takes to cook?" "Of course." "It's meat." "I'm the Rembrandt of meat." "Look." "You can watch this while I get started." "It's great that you want to cook, but why not make something simple?" "Leon has to eat within the next half hour." "Nothing beats pork loin, tied up like some Japanese girl on the Internet." "With no other purpose than to satisfy our decadent Western urges." "Dag, Leon needs his routines." "That can't come as a surprise to you." " I can make something." " No." "I'll make something simple." " Fondue, maybe?" "Coq au Vin?" " Dag...!" "Rack of lamb?" " Hi, Benedikt." "i" " Hi." "I have a new address." " Why is that, Benedikt?" " Mia asked me to move out." "Gave me 24 hours." "She's said that before, but this time it seems final." "I couldn't sleep, so I spent the whole night watching my son sleep." "This morning..." "It was so sad." "I sobbed like a baby." "I forgot that the cleaning lady was supposed to come." "And since I can't differentiate when it comes to physical contact..." "She though I was crazy." "I couldn't stop crying." "After all, that behavior is what got me kicked out." "Then all hell broke loose." "Mia came home with her psycho sisters." "Thought I had moved out." "I cried even more." "But the cleaning lady was Polish." "Serbs hate Poles." "So now I have to work on getting back my visitation rights." " You sure you're all right?" " Yeah." " How about you and your nuclear family?" " All's well here." " But I have to cook dinner now." " All right." "Bye." " Yes." "Bye." " Benedikt Skovrand." " What is your departure date?" " Do you have a long-term rate?" " Do you belong to our loyalty program?" " Oh yeah." "Is it any good?" "If I can make this page work." "I think it looks good already." ""Tour Tips."" " Yeah." "What?" " A little close to "turnips", maybe?" "Who searches for "turnips" when they want to travel?" "No, it looks good." "Seriously." " I know you don't mean that, but..." " Heck, you have a travel agency." " It isn't a travel agency." " Right." "It's... "Tour Tips."" "All right." "Listen." "If you have any better suggestions for a stay-at-home mom..." "Don't get mad." "I think it's a good initiative." "I'm not mad." "But don't dis me." "Travel is something I know." "I don't need criticism from someone who's hardly left town." " No." "I like it." " You have to leave." " What?" " Ernst." " Ernst?" " You have a session in ten minutes." "Fuck!" "He's the one who insists on meeting." " And you don't?" " No." "Well, maybe." "It's nice to unload after a week of complaints." "It's like punching a sandbag that sometimes hits back." " Bye." " Bye." "Bye." "Bye..." "Light afternoon reading?" "Oscar Bloch." "On Death." "As Seneca said:" ""Practice dying." "That is like practicing freedom."" ""He who has learnt to die, is beyond the reach of all who might bring him down."" "How are you today?" "And don't answer "fine" again." " You've never been "fine"." " Give me a break!" "I'm better than I've been in years." " And Eva?" " Fine, thank you." "Have you asked her?" "What do you mean?" "People in relationships aren't always on the same page." " You should know all about that." " No, well..." "She needs a job." "And what do you need, Dag?" "Hell if I know." "If you want to try to take living together seriously..." "That isn't easy." "But as a commitment-free pastime, it's easy to take." "There always seems to be something unspoken." "Which is odd." "We used to be able to talk about anything." "It may be a minor issue, but things remain unspoken,   and we just try to keep things light." "Eventually that evolves into some sort of a wall." "Surprisingly honest, coming from you." "What can I say?" "I'm an open book." "There's your dose of normal human behavior, Ernst." "Quid pro quo." "Trine and my son." "Relay." "I'm on it." "I think you're stalling, just to keep me coming here." "She hasn't been to child services, if that's any consolation." " But why do you ask?" " I just want to meet the kid " " I haven't seen since he was dumped in my lap." "She doesn't answer the phone, has a secret address..." "I don't want to be the kind of dad you talk to through a closed door at some campground." " That's too harsh." " Life isn't easy." "There's something called The Hemingway Code." "Hemingway, who struggled with depression, said:" "Life is built on moral ambiguity,   unavoidable pain, vulnerability and destruction." "To emerge victorious   you must base your personality on pride, courage and persistence." "Good conduct in that lonely losing battle with life,   is to show courage under fire." "That carries within it the only victory you can have over life." " And in a relationship." " Fine." "And now I want to know everything about Trine." "I know it all boils down to "life's a bitch"." "All it boils down to, is:" "Are you happier with or without Eva?" "Measure everything against the fact that you could be dead tomorrow." "Death isn't to be feared." "When you die,   you simply become what you were before you were born." "Christ..." "I think I'll just go home and keep things light." "You'll know as soon as I know." " On your way already?" " Yeah." "Leon's downstairs." " Everything OK?" " Sure." "Bye." " Wasn't I supposed to...?" " Dag, he's waiting downstairs." "Yes, it was your turn to drop him off." "But never mind." "I know he isn't yours, but he appreciates it." "Of course." "OK." "Bye." "Talk to you later." "What the hell just happened?" "Shit!" "Bonjour tristesse." "Tom!" "Wait up!" "Wait!" " Wait, Tom!" " This is not a good idea." "Don't worry." "Come here." "Just a half-hour, OK?" " It won't work, Benedikt." " She won't notice." " You know she notices everything." " Please, Tom." "I'm desperate." "We're talking about my son." "You moved in one hour after I got kicked out." "You owe me." "Fine." "Fine." " OK?" " Half an hour." " Where?" " Wherever." "A pool, a museum..." "I'll let Mia decide and I'll text you." " Anything." " Just keep your distance." "You're dead if you get caught." "Thank you so much." "Thank you, Tom." "I've become this function nobody notices." "We want to..." "We try our best, but we've hit a wall." " And this wall consists of...?" " He doesn't see what I do." "He's at work all day while I'm home with the baby." "I clean, do laundry, vacuum, try to make things nice, and nothing gets noticed." "As if the work I do is worthless." "And that makes me feel the same way." " And you?" " I help out as much as I can." "I make their school lunches." "I drive them to school." "And then I work all day." "It feels like I go from one job to the other." "I get a kid in my arms the second I come home." "And that's OK." "That's fine." "When you have the energy." "But the energy disappears." "And every day becomes a struggle." "All you want to do is sleep." "And then a new day begins." "What's something positive, on any given day?" "We enjoy the hour we're able to stay awake after the kids go to bed." "Then I can feel we can talk the way we used to." "That there's..." "A sense of closeness." "For lack of a better word." "And you, Kristoffer?" "I agree with Stine." "But?" "I'm not proud of it, but I feel that my favorite part of the day now   is the 20-minute commute to and from work." " It's quiet, and I get some time to myself." " I have no time for myself." "At least you have a job where you can feel validated." "But I have nothing." "And I'm the most social of the two of us." "And you get that kid in your arms because you're his dad." "I said I appreciated that." "It's just that..." "I am so incredibly tired." "And another thing." "You think you know how everything should be done with the kids." "And everything I do is wrong." "But you haven't been a mother any longer than I've been a father." "And you have to stop yelling at me, Stine." "I'm 40 years old." "I can't take that anymore." "I just need..." "Some time to be myself." "You can go out with your friends if you want." "But then I feel guilty because I'm out and you're stuck at home." "You're miles ahead of most people that come here." "You communicate, but you're on opposing teams." "I'm going to say something I've never said before:" "Talk to each other like this for ten minutes every day." "If things haven't improved in a week, I strongly suggest a divorce." "But here's the mess you'll get yourselves into:" "You'll be responsible for both kids 24/7." "And you'll have to have sex with some stranger you don't like." "You won't want to jump into a new relationship." "And won't be patient enough to let someone new get to know you." "And you..." "Well, we pretty much know what would happen to you." "No!" "That's our cue." "My secretary is working on an epic." "Her head explodes from time to time." "You'll get your bill in the mail." "You can reschedule later." "We have a syntax error here." "Yeah..." "Bye." "Malin, are you all right?" "It's horrible." "Yes, war is." "But it's just a book." "He's back." "Speak." " Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Quisling?" " Yes." "I was told you wished to record your last words." "It was Nygaardsvold!" "They left behind a nation in utter chaos." "Let the English overrun us as if we were some colony!" "Then they declare war and leave." "They run!" "I am not here to judge." "You have already been judged." "Just say what you have to say, and I'll take notes." "Do they hate me?" "The people?" "Out there?" "Yes." "Well...!" "What is it you want recorded?" "A stenographer is not what I need tonight, young lady." "I think you know what I need." "I'm afraid I must insist that you take oral notes." "Vidkun Quisling?" "He's taking in different roles, sneaking into the story." "So you, she, had sex with Vidkun Quisling?" "It was Trond Espen Seim, Dag!" "She didn't stand a chance." "Hardcore lesbians would fall for him." "I thought I was rid of him." "The average reader won't expect the heroine to sleep with Vidkun Quisling." "But if he gets shot..." "Then he'll be gone." "I have to go home." "I'll say!" " Are we celebrating something?" " Yes." "An epiphany." "I can't feel guilt for having a job." "I know." "I just need a life of my own." "Need to talk to someone but you and Leon." "And I need to earn money, so I don't live off of you." "No, I don't want you to worry about that." "Christmas in July, is that even legal?" "We're grown-ups, Dag." "Everything is permitted." "Really?" "Everything?" " Within reason, of course." " Too bad." "Here we go!" " What's this?" "A peeping Tom?" " No!" "I was just looking at this boy..."