‘The Guilty’ is a 2018 Danish psychological thriller that follows 112 call centre operator Asger Holm (Jakob Cedargren) the night before he is set to stand trial for shooting and killing a young man. His anxiety about the situation pre-emptively builds tension, which becomes ubiquitous when he receives a call from who he believes to be an abducted woman, named Iben.
Being an ex-police officer (or a police officer on probation), Holm quickly oversteps his jurisdiction and tries to work beyond the scope of a 112 call centre operator, trying to ring back Iben, using the Emergency Service database to gain information and ordering around fellow officers – all while confined to the walls of the 112 centre. We never see the action beyond the walls – only hear it through the many calls Holm makes.
Though setting the film in a single location might seem anti-climactic, it is Holm’s isolation and separation from the action that makes the film climatic. After making snarky responses to the first couple of calls, it is evident that Holm is bored of the work he considers beneath him. But when he picks up the call from Iben, he answers with his usual snarkiness, then quickly sobers. He realises that this call is more serious than someone getting mugged, or getting lost while high – and his hero cop instincts kick in. He is tense and anxious as he tries to help the seemingly vulnerable woman on the other end of the line – who is pretending to talk to her daughter, occasionally being interrupted by a man – and Holm is desperate to help her.
Regrettably, he has to put Iben on hold – though she cries at this idea. It’s apparent that Holm doesn’t want to let go, but he has too in order to order a highway patrol car to find her. Holm keeps the conversation with highway patrol abrupt – but they point out without a numberplate (or even model) they can’t find Iben.
Finally, Holm manages to get the make of the car – a white van – out of Iben, but she then hangs up. Rather than waiting, Holm contacts the patrol car, ordering them as they try to look for the white van. Eventually, they pull one over – and Holm waits for a full minute of screen time, with only faint and indistinguishable whispers over the radio. Then, they return to the car – they got the wrong van.
Holm grows more tense, desperate to find the numberplate of the white van. Frantic, he calls Iben’s daughter, and finally gets the number plate – but now he’s stuck comforting a child, unable to pass on any information. His restlessness conveys the time sensitivity – something he cannot successfully counter.
And then, the calls are finished – and he has nothing to do. The drastic variation between the high-tension calls and Holm having nothing to do is maddening – and not just for Holm. His helplessness as he waits in the 112 call centre translates well on the screen – Holm has no control over the situation. And as we are sticking with Holm and never moving to the action – we lose any sense of control with him. We are only privy to the information Holmes has – which is limited and received as a third party.
It is exactly this lack of control that makes the film so interesting. Had we been cutting between the action and Holm helpless in the call centre, the audience would have lost the overwhelming sense of hopelessness, and the tension would have been broken. Though cutting away from Holm may have added a different aspect to the film – direct action, other tense atmospheres (such as cops creeping down hallways) that would all round have made the film more ‘Hollywood’ – the decision to stay in the 112 call centre creates a unique masterpiece.
But what’s this all got to do with budget?
It’s pretty easy to infer that films shot in a single location cost less, because only one location needs to be rented, dressed and lit. Though the location will need to be used for longer (as more footage needed to be created) renting a single location for longer is likely cheaper than renting multiple locations. The location also appears to be a normal office space (e.g. no specialised locations like hospitals) and though a fair amount of set dressing would have needed to be provided (desks, computers, headphones) it is only a single location – rather than multiple locations being dressed. Additionally, there is very few hero props (likely his headphones, and the keyboard/computer he destroys) and those were ones common for the sets anyway – they were not exclusive.
As for lighting – though the lighting likely needed to be adjusted for each scene (and some furniture probably needed to be moved to account for the camera) this is still a significantly reduced cost from having to move the lights and reset at every location. Some lights might not have been moved for days. Finally, there is no cost involved in moving crew, tech, and actors from location to location.
On actors – though there are multiple voice actors, only Jakob Cedargren and a few bit parts/extras needed to be costumed and have make up put on. The other actors were all at the other end of the phone and are not seen, so had no need for costuming, make up, and less direction, as they did not need to be blocked. That being said, they still had to have their audio captured – most likely at a recording studio. Therefore a recording studio is almost a second location as it was used a lot (though, the voice actors could have gone and recorded in the call centre). They did not necessarily have to be present while Cedargren was having conversations with them – their lines could have been read by any crew as a stand in.
Another cost is the foley artist, who had to capture the sound of various cars (potentially different cars for different callers, driving at different speeds), sounds of the phone ringing/Holm dialling, doors opening, footsteps, etc. that were heard over the phone. There would also be cost in mixing all of these sounds together (for example, tampering to make them sound like they’re coming down the phone) though this kind of cost is not uncommon in a production (perhaps the magnitude is) – otherwise, most costs are similar to a typical small budget production.
Overall, the film included a lot of content (albeit remotely) that would usually destroy any microbudget film – through the phone, we hear car chases, stunts (Iben pulling the hand break), cops breaking down doors, but thanks to a creative decision to keep it in one room, these costs almost vanish. Only a foley artist had to be engaged for far longer hours than would be typical – but this doesn’t compare to the costs saved.
