Loving Adults is a Danish crime-thriller film on Netflix following a couple who appear to be living the perfect life after their son recovers from a long-term illness.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers.
Plot Summary
Christian and Leonora are married and their 18-year-old son, Johan, has just recovered from a serious illness. Going through the sordid affair of their son’s illness, the two of them had to sacrifice a lot for the sake of their family. Once things seem to be on the mend, Leonora finds out that Christian is having an affair with a woman from his office, Xenia.
Xenia is tired of being Christian’s mistress and gives him an ultimatum, asking him to choose between her and Leonora. Christian is too chicken-hearted to do any sort of confrontation but Leonora asks him about his affair.
They have a big fight and Christian says that he wants a divorce. That’s when Leonora brings up the incident of fraud that Christian committed the previous year in order to pay for their son’s treatment and medical bills. She threatens to tell the police if Christian leaves her.
Christian asks his friend, Peter, for advice. Peter, who has been through a divorce himself suggests Christian get in touch with Leonora’s friends so that they can offer some support to her through this tough time. When Christian goes to visit Leonora’s school friend, he comes to know that Leonora has cut off contact with all her friends, including her.
During their conversation, Leonora’s friend narrates an incident from their school days. Leonora had a boyfriend, Mike, who left her for another girl. Soon after, Mike is found dead, having fallen off a cliff.
Rumours float around that Leonora was the one who pushed him off the cliff out of jealousy. Christian is terrified after hearing this and asks his wife about it but she vehemently denies.
Christian makes a plan to kill Leonora. After she leaves the house for her evening run, Christian waits for her in his van at an isolated spot that falls on her usual route. Wrapped up in her red hoodie, Leonora comes onto the street and Christian runs her over with the van twice before leaving, making sure that the body doesn’t move. He then goes to their car service centre and gets the whole van thoroughly cleaned.
He comes home, shaken up by what he did, when suddenly Leonora pops up at home. He is shocked to see her alive. The next day, he gets to know that he had accidentally killed an innocent lady the previous night.
He is horrified by his actions and pretty shaken up. When Leonora gets to know that her husband tried to kill her, she acts scared at first. Later, she admits to killing her ex-boyfriend, Mike.
Leonora asks Christian to kill Xenia in order to keep their family together. Christian regrets killing the woman but Leonora is remorseless with nothing stopping her from killing again. Christian’s only option is to do what his wife says.
Loving Adults ending explained in detail:
What was Leonora’s alibi?
In school, Leonora’s friend saw her near the crime scene but Leonora had a solid alibi that kept her away from suspicion of the police. She used to play the violin.
At the time of the murder, she kept the record player on so the caretaker of the school heard music coming from the music room at all times. At the last minute, Leonora enters the room and starts playing the piano.
When the caretaker enters, she sees her practising. So, the possibility of Leonora being at the crime scene is ruled out.
What was Leonora’s plan?
Leonora comes up with a plan to kill Xenia. Christian and her get a room at a spa and order room service. Meanwhile, Christian is sent to Xenia’s place to kill her.
Leonora arranges things in a manner such that the room service employees think that her husband is in the bathroom. Leonora’s plan is that at the exact moment that Christian kills Xenia, she would send a break-up text to Xenia from Christian’s phone, thus solidifying his alibi.
Christian, on the other hand, chickens out and is unable to kill Xenia. They sleep together but when he wakes up, he finds Xenia dead in the bathroom and Leonora holding a knife and covered in blood. Leonora kills the mistress instead.
Where is the body?
The police arrive at Xenia’s house to see what appears to be a burglary and a missing persons case. Xenia’s body is nowhere to be found and her apartment is unusually clean of fingerprints.
The next day is a Danish festival celebration where they light a bonfire. Christian hurries up to light the pile of wood which turns out to be hiding Xenia’s dead body. The police reach a dead end. Then, Leonora and Christian dispose of the bones by dumping it in the lake.
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