Updated November 4, 2020
Also known as Scandinavian noir, ‘Nordic noir’ is a term for the wave of crime fiction that came out of northern Europe. Beginning in 1991, Henning Mankell’s novels about detective “Kurt Wallander” were hugely popular. Also hugely popular was the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Initially published in Swedish, the series was later published in English and other languages before becoming an international bestseller.
The success of such novels naturally led to movie and TV iterations, which found success outside their countries of origin. The Swedish program Wallander was a big hit in the UK. Also in the UK, the Danish Forbrydelsen (The Killing) was very popular, and considered the best show on British TV at the time.
The popularity of Nordic noir shows in northern Europe and the UK then bled over to the United States and the rest of the world. Many countries have not only broadcasted the Nordic-produced shows, but have done their own Nordic-noir-style shows.
Unlike the schlock of the U.S. major networks, Nordic noir stories are intellectually complex and can’t be solved in a 60-minute time slot. They are subtle, slow-paced serials with multi-layered storylines that can span entire seasons. With the American version of The Killing, it took two seasons to solve one murder. In the Danish version of the same story, it took only one season, but there were 20 episodes.
Nordic noir also carries a distinctly bleak feeling. Even when scenes take place in the daylight and in rural settings, there is a palpable bleakness. This is probably due to the cold climate of northern Europe. Even in wide-open spaces, the cold atmosphere creates an eerie claustrophobia similar to how shadows and darkness create claustrophobia in film noir.
Below are some recommendations if you want to participate in the Nordic noir craze…
Country: Sweden
Original title: Millennium
Lisbeth Salander, a hacker with a difficult upbringing, works with journalist Mikael Blomkvist to solve crimes, including those by her own family.
You can watch this as three movies or as six TV episodes. I’d recommend the six episodes if you can find them. Previously they were on U.S. Netflix, but no longer.
There was an American version in 2011 (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig. It’s well done, for sure, but
I prefer the Swedish version.
Less successful was the sequel movie, The Girl in the Spider's Web in 2018, starring Claire Foy, mentioned in this article.
IMDb: 7.8 for first movie (deserves higher)
Where: Amazon Prime, Hoopla, more
Country: Sweden & Denmark
Original title: Bron/Broen
Info: A woman is found murdered in the exact middle of a bridge between Sweden and Denmark. As a result, both Swedish and Danish detectives must work together
to solve the case. Quite a stunning opening hook.
The series was so popular that
they’ve done the show in other languages. Though the Swedish-Danish series is the best of the bunch, there is an American-Mexican version, simply called The Bridge, which was decent. And there is a British-French version
called The Tunnel, which was better – worth watching even if you’ve already seen the Swedish-Danish series.
IMDb: 8.6
Where: Hulu, more
Country: Denmark
Original title: Forbrydelsen
Info: The first season follows Detective Inspector Sarah Lund as she attempts to solve the murder of a teenage girl.
As already mentioned, this show was a smash hit in Britain, and ignited the Nordic noir craze.
There was a popular American version in 2011, The Killing. It was very well made and is a series I really like; but the Danish series is the authentic Nordic noir.
IMDb: 8.4
Where: This series is not streaming anywhere in the U.S. So you’d need to purchase it on DVD or Blu-ray. If you can’t find it in NTSC format (U.S.), you’ll need to have a DVD/Blu-ray player that can handle PAL format (Europe). I purchased my region-free Blu-ray player at https://www.220-electronics.com/
The above three are the essential Nordic noir. Here are some other recommendations. Some are really good and some are just pretty good. This list also includes non-Nordic countries’ attempts at Nordic noir.
Click on each title for more information.
Denmark
Sweden & France
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
Australia
Canada
France
Germany & Austria
UK
UK & France
US