The Night In Question

Synopsis

Newly married lawyer CLARA ANDERSEN (35) is willing to go beyond all moral and ethical boundaries to have her father, CARSTEN ANDERSEN (55) declared innocent after he is accused of raping her friend LEONIE NOVAK (32) at a family party. The case leaks to the press and becomes a scandal, putting Clara and her entire family in the spotlight. Clara finds out that her father and her friend Leonie had an affair. So she gets more and more doubts about Leonie's statement. Clara's father admits to having had an intimate relationship with Leonie but says he was never violent.

Even before the investigation is completed, the charges threaten to destroy her father Carsten, who is a well-known musician. A court hearing is set to take place, with everyone involved changing their position on the facts of the case: Leonie will ask herself if she really said no. Carsten will confront whether he perceived the limits of the woman he loves. Clara will try everything to protect her family, but bit by bit she will see how the truths on which she has built her life are slowly falling apart.

The family drama THE NIGHT IN QUESTION is about a particularly complicated rape accusation that changes the lives of everyone involved forever. The story is told from three perspectives: That of the perpetrator, that of the victim, and that of our protagonist, the daughter of the perpetrator. The family drama THE NIGHT IN QUESTION thus deals with a rape accusation that is not black and white but hovers in a grey area. In the process, the explosive question is raised: At what point is a rape actually a rape?

We look behind the clichés we have of victims, perpetrators, and accomplices of rape. We investigate why the victim, Leonie Novak, tolerates, why the accused Carsten Andersen disregards the boundaries of his counterpart, and why his daughter, Clara Andersen, decides in favour of her father despite strong doubts. We are more concerned with complexity and ambivalence than with finding absolute answers.

Statistically speaking, every second rape happens in an acquaintance or family environment. Only five percent of victims accuse the perpetrators, even fewer if the victim knows the perpetrator. When the victim does muster the courage to testify, family members discourage the victim from reporting the perpetrator.

What makes a sister, a mother, or a father discourage their own daughter, sister, or son from going to court? To get to the bottom of this question, we have chosen Clara as one of the main perspectives. Does Clara's longing to preserve her fragile family construct keep her from standing up for her ideals? Do strong family ties stand in the way of the possibility of a change in thinking about rape?

The case will also become a political issue as it is taken up by the fictional "YES=YES" campaign, which seeks to change the sexual offense law along the controversial Swedish lines. At the same time, the story will reveal that what happens in an intimate situation between two people is sometimes difficult to reconstruct in a court case - and even more difficult to capture in a paragraph.

We will use this case to explore intimacy and boundaries in our lives together.

This theme will run through every character and their relationships in our series. These are moral, ethical, and sexual boundaries. Clara will cross any boundary to get what she wants. The victim, Leonie, will become aware of her own boundaries that she never noticed before, only to tear them down again. Carsten will struggle with the fact that he has not perceived the boundaries of his counterpart - and wonder if the same applies to his own boundaries.

We are interested in the power struggle that often accompanies a sexual act. The complex game that leads two people into bed when it's actually about something more than just satisfaction for both of them - possibly something else entirely.

Dominance and seduction are part of sex. What becomes clear, however, is that women measure their pleasure by the man's reaction, and therefore all too often feel pushed in some way that makes them uncomfortable afterward. What should be a mutual act becomes an assault.

But what does it mean to draw boundaries? Why do we still find it so difficult to be intimate without crossing each other's boundaries?

A rethinking is taking place around the world right now. But is it possible to regulate intimacy with laws? How can we communicate our own boundaries and the boundaries of others in an enlightened society? Are we - men AND women - redefining sex and intimacy?

At the beginning of this series, we meet a modern, humorous family. A family that is unconventional in its composition, has its own traditions, loves discussions and celebrations - and has a strong cohesion despite its quirks and contrasts. The rape and the subsequent trial strike like an earthquake, shaking up and deeply upsetting all members of the family. Dark secrets come to the surface. Relationships are called into question. Everyone has to take a stand, show attitudes, and choose sides.

Afterward, everything is different: not only Clara's relationship with her father, but also with her husband; Leonie's self-image as a woman, her relationship with men in general, and Carsten's self-image as a man and well-known musician, both publicly and privately. Nothing is what it was.

Crime drives the story forward as a dramatic engine, without dominating it. We take our cues here from series like "The Affair" and "Big Little Lies." The criminal and legal aspects of rape provide a framework to depict intimacy, relationships, and conflicts between people.

We narrate horizontally with a three-strand dramaturgy that depicts Carsten, Clara, and Leonie's perspectives respectively. This dramaturgy will be interspersed with flashbacks that will tell of the intact relationships within the family, which we will then question in the horizontal narrative.

Music will be an important part of our series, as both Carsten and Leonie are musicians. Music will reinforce Carsten's position as a loving father and his standing in society as a well-known and popular political songwriter. Leonie makes music that is possibly more contemporary but equally creates an instant connection with the audience. We are not interested in big performances, but in self-written music, which as an emotional tool, will create a sensual, intimate feeling between the characters and therefore for the series.

Our series lives from its characters, with whom we will sympathize, precisely because they have different positions on a fact. To create this complicity between viewer and character, we will always accompany our protagonists very closely in intimate situations. We will experience intimacy with them in its different facets, but without exposing our protagonists.