Line #79 Main/NordicNoir


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5	[[quoteright:300:[[Series/{{Deadwind}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deadwind_2.jpg]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:300:A very different kind of cold case.]]
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11	''Nordic Noir'' or ''Scandinavian Noir'' is a genre of CrimeFiction from the Scandinavian countries, which broke through around the TurnOfTheMillennium and since.
12
13	They often, but not always, take the form of a PoliceProcedural. TheHero is often an AntiHero; typically a DefectiveDetective. Many of the series have been adapted to film, and then remade for other audiences. The genre [[UrExample arguably originated]] with Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall's ''Literature/MartinBeck'' novels, which introduced many of the concepts and conventions, such as deconstructing the clean surface of the welfare state, dealing with older, down on their luck cops and social commentary and social realism, set in deserted sceneries in an [[GrimUpNorth an unforgiving climate]]. However, it [[TropeCodifier truly took off]] in the English-speaking world with the English publication of Henning Mankell's novels, most of which feature the depressive Inspector Kurt Wallander.
14
15	While the name suggests that Nordic Noir must be set in the Nordics, the genre's popularity in certain English-speaking countries has ensured the creation of many crime procedural works that take heavy inspiration from the cold, rural settings of Nordic Noir, but are set in Britain, Ireland, Canada or the frigid regions of the United States. Whether these works still qualify as "Nordic" Noir is up for debate.
16
17	Compare with {{Giallo}} and HeroicBloodshed, for other region specific crime thrillers.
18
19	----
20	!!Examples
21
22	[[index]]
23	[[AC:Film -- Live-Action]]
24	* ''Film/Beck1997'' is a series of a TV movies [[InNameOnly very loosely based]] on Sjöwall and Wahlöö's ''Literature/MartinBeck'' novels. Maj Sjöwall was an advisor for the series, though.
25	* ''Film/DepartmentQTheKeeperOfLostCauses''
26	* ''Film/FearX'': Kind of. It's set in Wisconsin and Montana in midwinter, but filmed in Canada and Denmark, but Danish director Creator/NicolasWindingRefn.
27	* ''Film/{{The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo\|2011}}'', the English-language American adaptation of the book of the same name from the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries''.
28	* ''Film/HoldTheDark'' is an American production set in Alaska (and filmed in Canada), and...weirder than some of the classic examples, but it qualifies as a take on the genre.
29	* ''Film/TheHunters''
30	* ''Film/InOrderOfDisappearance''
31	* ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'' and its American remake.
32	* ''Film/JohanFalk'' These movies do feature some sleuthing, but in Sweden at least, they are marketed as pure action movies.
33	* ''Film/TheManOnTheRoof''
34	* ''Film/TheMillenniumTrilogy'', the film adaptations of the original three books in the ''Literature/MillenniumSeries''.
35	* ''Film/{{Pusher}}'' (Arguably ''proto-nordic noir'')
36	* ''Film/TheShippingNews'' Set in Newfoundland with a pretty noirish character
37	* ''Film/BlowTheManDown'' Although not set in a snowy landscape, it's set in a Maine town with an underbelly of crime
38
39	[[AC:Literature]]
40	* ''Literature/{{Backstrom}}''
41	* ''Literature/TheChestnutMan'' is set in Denmark with a SerialKiller antagonist.
42	* ''Literature/HarryHole''
43	* ''Literature/MartinBeck'' series is an UrExample of the genre, and basically spawned all other titles mentioned here.
44	* ''Literature/{{Millennium\|Series}}'', one of the most famous literary examples.
45	* ''Literature/MissSmillasFeelingForSnow'' as a literary example that contains many central tropes and aesthetic trappings of the genre, while not exactly being a part of it. It ''is'' partially a detective story, albeit not in PoliceProcedural form, but, Peter Høeg being the writer that he is, is broader in genre, somewhat philosophical and multi-layered.
46	* ''Literature/TheYiddishPolicemensUnion'' is set in Alaska (and an AlternateHistory), but fits the trope quite well.
47
48	[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
49	* ''Series/ArneDahl''
50	* ''Series/{{Backstrom}}'', adaptation of the ''Literature/{{Backstrom}}'' novels. An American procedural that kept the original's cynical edge while softening down some of the protagonist's other flaws.
51	* ''Series/Backstrom2020'' a slightly TruerToTheText adaptation of the fourth ''Literature/{{Backstrom}}'' novel.
52	* ''Bankenrot'' ("Broke") was essentially a Nordic version of [[/index]]''Series/BreakingBad'', changing down-on-his-luck chemistry teacher for down-on-his-luck chef. The attempt by AMC to adapt it to American audiences, ''Feed The Beast'', unfortunately became an AudienceAlienatingPremise and only lasted a single season.[[index]]
53	* [[/index]]''Series/BlackMirror'' has a couple episodes heavily inspired by this genre, though mixed with ''Black Mirror'''s trademark speculative science fiction.[[index]]
54	** "[[Recap/BlackMirrorHatedInTheNation Hated in the Nation]]"
55	** "[[Recap/BlackMirrorCrocodile Crocodile]]", which was actually filmed (if not set) in Iceland.
56	* ''Series/TheBreak'', a Franco-Belgian take on the genre.
57	* ''Series/TheBridge2011''
58	** ''Series/TheTunnel'', its UK/France remake.
59	** ''Series/TheBridgeUS'', its USA/Mexico remake.
60	* ''Series/{{Bullets\|2018}}''
61	* ''Series/{{Cardinal}}'', a Canadian take on the genre, which was positively critiqued throughout Canada.
62	* ''Series/TheChestnutMan'', a Danish take on the genre.
63	* ''Series/{{Dark\|2017}}'', a German science fiction thriller, has frequently been described as ''Series/StrangerThings'' with a Nordic Noir aesthetic, particularly in its first season.
64	* ''Series/{{Deadwind}}'', as pictured above.
65	* ''Series/{{Fallet}}'' is a comedic take on the genre.
66	* ''Series/{{Forbrydelsen}}'', arguably the TropeCodifier for people who don't read prose crime fiction.
67	** ''Series/TheKilling'', its US remake.
68	* ''Series/{{Fortitude}}'' is what you get when a British TV channel decides to make its own Nordic Noir, still in a Scandinavian setting.
69	* ''Gentlemen'' and its sequel ''Gangsters'' by Klas Östergren
70	* ''Series/{{Jordskott}}''
71	* ''Series/{{Lilyhammer}}''
72	* ''Series/MidnightSun2016'' (''Midnattssol'' / ''Nuit Polare''), a French-Swedish coproduction playing in Kiruna, Sweden.
73	* ''[[Series/{{Oyevitne}} Øyevitne]]'', a six-part Norwegian crime series that was also remade as ''Series/Eyewitness2016'' for the US market.
74	* ''Raid'', a Finnish mini-series, and the two movies that followed. Unusually enough, it's set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture.
75	* ''Series/RolandHassel'', a classic nordic-noir-crime-thriller from the 80's, famous in Sweden for the protagonist being more intelligent than cocky.
76	* ''Series/{{Shetland}}'' is a Scottish take on the genre, set in a region of Scotland that's the closest thing to a Nordic country that speaks English.[[note]]Yes, closer than Minnesota. It's very close to Norway, has significant Norse/Nordic influence on its culture (to wit: it was colonised by vikings from Norway and was ruled by Norway, or at least by Norwegian lords, for centuries), and to this day maintains cultural and economic contacts with both Norway and the Faroe Islands.[[/note]]
77	* ''Series/{{Sorjonen}}'', a Finnish take on the genre.
78	* ''Series/SpringTide'' is a Swedish series which kicks off with the investigation of a pregnant woman's death.
79	* ''Series/Trapped2015'' (Original title ''Ófærð''), an Icelandic TV series in 10 parts.
80	* ''Series/ThinIce''
81	* ''Series/TrueDetective'': Season 4 (titled ''Night Country''), though set in the UsefulNotes/{{Alaska}}n High Arctic rather than an actual Nordic country, has many of the hallmarks, including the DefectiveDetective (2 of them, both women to boot), the social themes, and the grisly murder implicating both the personal lives of the perpetrator and the victim on one hand and wider issues on the other. The setting during polar night also adds to the noirness. However, it's distinguished from most other examples by including (somewhat ambiguous) supernatural elements. (Also for what it's worth, much of it was ''filmed'' in Iceland.)
82	* ''Series/{{Twin}}'', which has many of the hallmarks of a Nordic Noir drama, with some police procedural aspects, but the detective is merely a side character and the focus of the story is on the victim's twin brother.
83	* ''Series/DerUsedomKrimi'' is a German series set on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, which is far enough north to have a Scandinavian flavour.
84	* ''Series/{{Wallander}}'', the other blockbuster literary example.
85	** ''Series/YoungWallander''
86	* ''Series/YGwyll'', a Welsh take on the genre.
87
88	[[AC:Video Games]]
89	* ''VideoGame/AlanWakeII'' by the Finnish Creator/RemedyEntertainment is set in Washington State, but follows many of the tropes of a Nordic Noir with a detective deuteragonist, grisly murders, and police procedural elements.
90	* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', though technically created on the other side of the Baltic Sea ([=ZA/UM=] are Estonian), blends the themes of Nordic Noir with NewWeird elements, with the framework of a grisly murder investigation being used to explore both broader sociopolitical themes as well as the private inner demons of the DefectiveDetective player character in a world that may or may not be [[spoiler:slowly willing itself into collective oblivion]].
91	* ''VideoGame/{{Draugen}}'' is somewhat of a retro take on the genre, placing a missing person's case in a rural Norwegian village in the year of 1923.
92	* ''VideoGame/WhispersOfAMachine'' combines the genre with CyberPunk.
93
94	[[AC:Web Video]]
95	* The genre was satirized by the youtuber Alastair Beckett-King in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-OOpZitfd0 Every Single Scandinavian Crime Drama]]".
96
97	[[AC:Webcomics]]
98	* ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'': "[[https://satwcomic.com/save-the-day Save the day]]" contrasts Nordic action protagonists with American and British ones. America is a gun-toting LeeroyJenkins, Britain is a [[TuxedoAndMartini suave spy]], while Denmark, Sweden and Finland are hapless, regular guys in disheveled clothing, smoking and maybe wielding a gun, alluding to the somber tone of Nordic Noir.
99	[[/index]]
100
101	----
102	!!Tropes typical to the genre:
103
104	* ActionGirl: Female characters are as likely to partake in action scenes as male ones.
105	* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: Common villains, nearly always {{Mooks}}.
106	* AssholeVictim: As often as not investigation into the murder victim, or somebody who has been offended against, reveals they are not exactly clean-living citizens. The paradox of policing repeatedly emerges - that nobody is ever completely innocent, and that often material witnesses are evasive or reluctant to come forward for fear their shadier doings might be exposed. (Even if unrelated to the case being investigated).
107	* CowboyCop: Yes, Scandinavia has them too. However they are usually portrayed realistically, more like in ''Series/TheShield'' than ''Film/DirtyHarry''. The most famous ones are probably Gunvald Larsson from Literature/MartinBeck and ''Roland Hassel'' from the eponymous book series by Olov Svedelid. There's also the Swedish film ''"I lagens namn"'' ("In the name of the law") from 1986, which was loosely based on the "baseball gang", a group of real-life Stockholm cops infamous for their vigilante tactics.
108	* CrapsaccharineWorld: Many such works often depict Nordic society as this, their progressive welfare states and social justice-minded values masking mean streaks of intolerance and misogyny.
109	* DefectiveDetective and FallenHero
110	* DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas: RealityIsUnrealistic, as Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen and Helsinki are usually ''not'' covered by snow in late December.
111	* DysfunctionJunction: Many of these works tend to depict every single character as deeply disturbed and unhappy, even the non-violent ones.
112	* GermanicDepressives: That might specifically target Germans, but it's not hard for the Nordics to top them for depressive moods when you're based even farther north and the winters are even longer and colder.
113	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: This genre has most of its market in Britain and Germany. Sjöwall and Wahlöö's Literature/MartinBeck series was huge in the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]], as due to authors being socialists and their social critique resonating well with the Soviet ideology, the books were widely translated and published, while the people mostly read them for the good stories they were.
114	* HistoricalDetectiveFiction: The [[TooGoodToLast shortlived]] Swedish show, ''Anno 1790'', was set in Stockholm after the end of the [[https://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1700s/yr80/russoswedishwar1788.htm Russo-Swedish war of 1788]] and follows the adventures of a veteran CombatMedic turned cop.
115	* NationalStereotypes: Especially in cross-Scandinavian franchises, such as ''Bron\|Broen''.
116	* NorseByNorsewest: Deconstructed, in the typical case. Though these countries are known to be clean and well-organized, crime, corruption and filthy environments do exist.
117	* RuthlessForeignGangsters: Typically TheMafiya. TruthInTelevision to some degree.
118	* SexyScandinavian: Some of these works have explicit sex scenes, although FanDisservice is also common.
119	* SnowMeansCold / SnowMeansDeath
120

Context Main / NordicNoir