In his 2016 drama, The King’s Choice, director Erik Poppe focused on the early days of Nazi Germany’s invasion of Norway in 1940. Now, Poppe turns his attention to the end of that occupation and the downfall of the leader of Norway’s pro-Nazi puppet government, Vidkun Quisling (powerfully portrayed by Gard B. Eidsvold), a man whose name became a worldwide synonym for ‘collaborator’ and ‘traitor’.

Gard B. Eidsvold as Vidkun Quisling in the film Quisling: The Final Days

Poppe and his three screenwriters (Anna Bache-Wiig, Siv Rajendram Eliassen and Ravn Lanesskog) pick up the story at the moment of liberation from five years of his authoritarian rule. Pacing the corridors of his villa, Quisling believes he is above justice and that he will be quietly pensioned off into obscurity. His wife Maria urges him not to bend or buckle. But the country Quisling once led – one he believes he saved from a German plan to enact a ‘scorched earth’ retreat – wants retribution. Imprisoned in Oslo’s Akershus Fortress, he awaits trial on charges of murder, theft, embezzlement and, most worrying for Quisling, conspiring with Hitler over the invasion and occupation of Norway.