The Manslayer/The Virgin/The Shadow (2017)

The Manslayer employs a theme known in Scandinavian and Estonian folklore. The time frame of the story is from the early morning of a wedding day until the early morning of the following day. The characters are driven by force majeure – the local customs and rituals which were common a hundred years ago. The leading character Maara is a young bride who is about to start her life in her new family. The Virgin, set in the spring of 1949, tells the story of a young woman called Elina, who has been deported from Ingria into Estonia. In fear of being deported to Siberia, she enters into a fictitious marriage with an Estonian man named Heino. The wedded couple live in the verandah of the flat of
Heino's uncle, each keeping to their respective corner and sleeping in separate beds. Someone informs the NKVD (the Soviet law enforcement agency) of the fictitious marriage and the couple are called in for interrogation. The Shadow moves in the present. The main character, Luna Lee, has decided to flee from home. Is there something else besides emptiness somewhere? As luck would have it, she becomes a witness to the failing relationship between an unemployed actor and his wife. In contrast, Pastor Theophilus offers Luna Lee a contract with God. However, Theophilus ends up being useless as a savior as well.
The common link between the three short stories is the leading character: Maara, Elina and Luna Lee are all played by the same actress.