Budding romance is a powerful drug. In the early moments of an intimate relationship, it’s all too common to get in over your head and ignore the red flags and oddities in exchange for human connection. Danish director Nicole N. Horanyi’s documentary The Stranger vividly explores the remarkable account of one such encounter with wildly unimaginable consequences.
The Stranger—which features in its re-enactments almost everyone who was actually involved in the story in real life—provides Amanda Kastrup and those closest to her a means to retrace the 100-day relationship between her and Casper, a wealthy, mysterious man (brilliantly acted here by Esben Dalgaard Andersen) she met on Facebook. Horanyi meticulously places Amanda in precise locations, coaxing her to relive key moments of interest with devastating effect. For example, in a hotel bed in Copenhagen, Kastrup gazes out the window, recalling the moment she fell in love with a man she never knew. It is at once intimate, deeply personal, and terrifyingly familiar.
Amanda and Casper’s doomed relationship reaches an apex when she receives a call from the bank with an alarming message: Casper has secretly taken out several loans and credit cards in her name. She has 24 hours to report her boyfriend to the police or she will be held liable. Casper’s story becomes incomprehensibly strange: for example, his need for cash comes on the heels of a botched hash smuggling operation. Upon further research, Amanda discovers her mysterious lover is a notorious international con man who has swindled millions from notable victims across the globe.
Kastrup’s performance transcends the typical confessional documentary and turns it into something rather groundbreaking. There are moments where her “acting” suddenly triggers a revelation that is only possible through this kind of experimentation in filmmaking. The Strangerdives deep into what motivates us emotionally and serves as a warning about being taken advantage of.