An Honest Life 2025

In a flash-forward, we find Simon exploring a high-end Danish boutique with his friend Max while browsing expensive watches. Suddenly, a commotion erupts when a nearby customer collapses, allowing a ringing phone on the counter to interject. A mysterious voice on the line urges Simon to steal the watches, framing it as a test.

Upon arriving at Lund University with the intention of pursuing a law degree, Simon unexpectedly becomes embroiled in a robbery. He faces an unwarranted beating from a police officer who mistakenly believes him to be an accomplice. In a twist of fate, one of the masked robbers intervenes, knocking out the officer and fleeing without offering any explanation. Seeking to blend in with his affluent roommates, Simon finds himself renting a room in a posh apartment. His life takes an unanticipated turn when he bumps into Max, the girl linked to the robbery, during a rainy encounter.

As their relationship develops, Max picks Simon up in a van and takes him for an adventure by the seaside, where they indulge in cliff jumping—only for Simon to suffer serious injuries. Max’s sister Dinah tends to him and offers some painkillers as they embark on a journey to Grey Gardens, a cottage owned by the retired professor Charles, who leads an anti-establishment student group. Emphasizing the principle of radical honesty, Charles believes that one’s actions should align with their spoken beliefs. Amid this camaraderie, Max expresses that Simon fits right in and shares a kiss with him.

Later, during a trip with Max, Simon succumbs to temptation and steals a watch, thus passing the so-called test for Charles’ group. Although initially unsettled, he quickly warms up to the bond shared among the “bandits.” Their relationship intensifies as they embrace nights of adventure, including a passionate encounter on the beach. However, when Simon informs his roommates of his desire to move out, they retaliate by publically humiliating him by reading his diary aloud.

The bandits then attend a lavish masquerade party, where Simon witnesses Max about to sleep with Ludvig. This fuels a fight with Victor, and Simon later learns from Max that her motivations for sleeping with Ludvig were purely strategic—to gain access to his parents’ house in Malmö. Together, the bandits endeavor to vandalize the house, but chaos ensues when Robin accidentally discharges a firearm during a botched burglary, resulting in the shooting of the housekeeper.

Things take a turn when Max is pulled over by law enforcement while Robin and Simon hide in the back of their van. In a desperate escape, they pepper-spray the officers before making their getaway. When they return to the cottage, they find Charles, who has caught wind of the incident, confronting them. An intense altercation ensues, leaving Simon feeling the urge to leave, yet Max provides him evidence of his complicity in their ventures.

As Simon tries to get the address of a former bandit from Charles, he discovers that the person in question is missing, uncovering troubling truths about Max’s deceitful nature. Returning to the cottage only to find Charles has taken a tragic turn, Simon meets Max again in a hotel room. In a climactic moment, the bandits tie Simon up as they plan another heist. However, he manages to free himself just in time to thwart a potential shooting of a guard, although one of the bandits is accidentally shot in the chaos. As they flee from the police, Simon confronts Max with the revelation that he knows her true identity—Lea Valverde—and he is aware of her accomplices’ real names. The stakes rise as he warns her that should anything happen to him, they will all face exposure.