The Hollywood Reporter has reviewed Noomi’s upcoming drama “Beyond” after seeing it at the Venice Film Festivel. Below is an excerpt, the complete review (with possible spoilers) can be read here. “Beyond” is based on the best-selling, semiautobiographical Swedish novel by Susanna Alakoski and features Noomi Rapace, a global star since she first took the role of Lisbeth Salander in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” Success in the Nordic countries is ensured, as is international art house appeal, for this dramatic, beautifully acted but never bleak story. In “Beyond,” Rapace plays Leena, a seemingly happy wife and mother of two who returns to her hometown when she learns her mother is dying. Actually, she is dragged back by her husband (Rapace’s real-life spouse, Ola Rapace), who like their daughters reacts rather unflappably to the news that Mom’s Mom is alive, a fact Leena kept from her family.
Rapace proves she is an heir of the Bergman school of understatement. A driven woman seeking order – her Leena is all determination and forward motion. She cannot stop moving for fear her demons will break her.