The tragedy of the film is that the love depicted is real, but it is a toxic love. It is a love that consumes identity. The house protects them from the world, but it also rots them from the inside.
Who will appreciate it
: Critics describe the relationship as a "parallax of desires," where the mother and son are fundamentally miscoordinated. The mother wanders the house like a phantom, attempting to reaffirm her identity through her son.
Strengths
Petter moves back in with his widowed mother, but their relationship takes a dark turn as her extreme maternal bond escalates into jealousy. When Petter begins an affair with a local teacher named Eva, his mother’s desire to keep him entirely for herself leads to an incestuous climax.