Norwegian filmmaker Marlene Emilie Lyngstad premiered her debut feature film ‘Cute’ at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it earned a spot in the New Directors selection. The Danish-produced drama, co-written by Lyngstad and Emilie Koefoed Larse, addresses sensitive subject matter including sexual taboos, fetishes, and pedophilia through the story of a man named Richard who struggles with forbidden attractions and forms an unconventional relationship with his mother’s caregiver.
The film centers on Richard, portrayed by Jan Gunnar Røise, who leaves his girlfriend after experiencing troubling feelings toward his young stepdaughter and returns to his childhood home. There he encounters Stella, the caregiver for his mother, who is dealing with her own concerns about aging and maintains a secret life as a content creator specializing in age-play material. The two characters develop a transgressive relationship that blurs emotional and fetishized boundaries. The production, handled by Nordisk Film, contains explicit depictions of infantilization and age-play scenarios.
Lyngstad cast Gina Jaqueline, an online content creator and social media figure, in the role of Stella for her acting debut. According to the filmmaker, Jaqueline’s background and personal interests aligned remarkably with the character, creating what Lyngstad describes as ‘unnerving authenticity.’ Jaqueline revealed that she was initially unaware the role was being offered to her and expressed surprise at discovering Lyngstad had coincidentally developed character elements that matched aspects of her own life. During production, the filmmakers incorporated personal items from Jaqueline’s collection of ‘cute’ aesthetic objects into the film.
Lyngstad explained that her creative approach begins with unsettling concepts that raise questions rather than provide answers. She drew inspiration from a woman within the BDSM community who engaged in age-play dynamics, noting that the practice often stemmed from emotional needs rather than purely sexual ones, specifically the desire to experience unconditional care and regression. Lyngstad and Jaqueline indicated the film deliberately avoids moral judgment, stating their intention is to prompt audience reflection rather than approval of the characters’ actions, leaving the narrative deliberately unresolved.
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