The Keeper of Lost Causes
The Keeper of Lost Causes, also known as Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes, is a 2013 Danish film directed by Mikkel Nørgaard. The movie is based on the novel Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen. It is the first film in the Department Q film series, followed by The Absent One and A Conspiracy of Faith.
Synopsis
Carl Mørck is demoted to Department Q, the cold case unit, after a raid he instigated goes wrong. One case, a suspected suicide, piques his interest. His investigations suggest that the victim, a rising politician named Merete Lynggaard, was actually kidnapped. Mørck ruffles feathers and is told to halt the investigation, but he and his assistant Assad persist.As the duo investigate the case further, they get into trouble with Swedish police and are suspended, but they continue their investigation. Lynggaard is revealed to be imprisoned in a pressure chamber by a vengeful chef named Lasse. When Lynggaard and Lasse were children, Lynggaard playfully blindfolded her father as he was driving, causing a deadly car crash that killed both of her parents as well as Lasse's father and younger sister. The confinement and torture of Lynggaard is Lasse's revenge.
Carl and Assad locate the pressure chamber and rescue Lynggaard as she is about to die, and they arrest Lasse. Because of their action and the prominence of the case, the police chief reinstates the duo as detectives.
Cast and characters
- Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Carl Mørck
- Fares Fares as Assad
- Sonja Richter as Merete Lynggaard
- Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Uffe Lynggaard
- Søren Pilmark as Marcus Jacobsen
- Troels Lyby as Hardy Henningsen
- Patricia Schumann as Søs Norup
- Eric Ericson as Johan Lundquist