Möwengelächter

A family member from an Icelandic village is returning home after living with her husband in America. She says that her husband died of a heart attack, "while I was cleaning the fridge." "You had a fridge?" says another. Yep, a comedy.

Everybody is happy to see her and among them is a young cousin , Egga, a mischievous 12-year-old girl, who seems to regard this new family member with special fascination. On the one hand the new arrival "just seems" evil but on the other, a person she cannot help admiring. This older cousin is still young and coquettish, masterfully flirtatious, and endowed with charms galore. She meets someone but runs into trouble. Egga tries to save the situation by intercepting their letters and rewriting them (she is the courier).

Egga exhibits another proclivity, spinning yarns and relating them to the village policeman (who reacts with bemused tolerance) implicating others (especially her cousin) in wrong doings, of which, however, there is almost certainly a measure of truth, exactly how much is unknown. There is a comic flair to all of this and some of it rather dark. These two cousins comprise the dominant thread of the story but other family members get their moments and there is a great deal of charm to it all. The events have a certain rollicking bluster. The ending is priceless. I can't believe how well this is all put together. I had to watch it twice.