In a decaying Copenhagen trapped in perpetual twilight, eighteen-year-old Freja has grown up in a city that has not seen the sun in fourteen years. Each day, loudspeakers echo the government’s promise of salvation: ferries bound for “a better life.” Yet none of those who have boarded have ever returned.
Freja’s family clings to the hope of escape. Her father, Henrik, sees the ferry as their last chance at survival. Her mother, Liv, longs for togetherness, even if it means surrender. Her brother, Einar, hides his own secret, desperate to follow Lukas, the boy he loves, no matter the cost. Only Freja resists, her doubts fueled by the silence of those who left before and the memory of her missing best friend, Ella.
When Freja witnesses a ferry return empty, its windows covered and its decks stripped of passengers and belongings marked by blood, her suspicions harden into truth. The voyages are not salvation but disappearance. Her desperate pleas to her family fall on deaf ears, met with anger, denial, and the revelation of Einar’s forbidden love. The rift between them deepens, pushing Freja further into isolation.
As the family joins the masses headed toward the docks for the final voyage, each is driven by different needs: Henrik’s devotion to order, Liv’s yearning to keep her family intact, Einar’s pursuit of love. In the crowd, Einar finds Lukas, clutching his hand with open relief. Liv forces a brave smile through tears, urging Freja to follow. Henrik marches ahead without hesitation.
At the base of the ferry’s gangway, Freja cannot move. The ship looms, its doors swallowing the silent crowd. The horn bellows. Her family disappears one by one into the vessel’s hollow interior. Standing alone in the glow of eternal twilight, half bathed in gold and half in blue, Freja faces her defining choice: obey the potentially false promise of survival or stand her ground in defiance of silence, conformity, and erasure.
Lingering Light is a haunting allegory about truth, survival, and the courage to resist. Set against the backdrop of a world forever caught between night and day, the film explores the weight of family bonds, the ache of forbidden love, and the peril of obedience in the face of oppression. At its heart, it is a story of a young woman deciding whether to claim her own light in the darkness, even if it means standing alone.