John has a small publishing company and lives in a passionless marriage with Anna. Through his work he meets Clara - a fragile artist's soul who lives with her jealous boyfriend Stig. John offers Clara an apartment and soon he leaves his wife and moves in with Clara. Their love-nest soon turns into a virtual death trap with menace spelled out in the misplacing of objects, gas leaks, mysterious graffiti, etc.

REVIEWS:

"From Hans Alfredson, director of 'The Simple-Minded Murderer', a popular favorite at the 1984 San Francisco International Film Festival, comes this Hitchcockian suspenser, probing deeply into the soul of jealousy and into the excesses that this Black Sickness, as it is known in Swedish, may lead to among people otherwise considered to be in control of themselves...  The whodunit aspect of Alfredson’s film comes a complete shock although the denouement is psychologically sound and even seems inevitable. The subject of jealousy is explored via sharp vignettes of film’s secondary characters, too. Alfredson may take a dim, if not downright bleak, view of humanity but he shows sympathy with its individual members."  ...Keith Keller, Variety

"Alfredson describes how love, jealousy and suspicion drive their game with the main characters. 'False as Water' is a film in which the unspoken is also important and where what is not always visible matters. The main characters are played by Sverre Anker Ousdal, Marie Göranzon and Malin Ek. Once again, Hans Alfredson shows what a skilled personal trainer he is and the good game is not only these three, but also Stellan Skarsgård and others... There is unfailing certainty in the touch, precision in directing, and in the structure of the drama. Gradually as we get closer to the characters, we are relentlessly led towards the awful culmination of the plot. The carousel of evil spins faster and faster... With all the tricks of a thriller maker, Alfredson tries to scare us. and he succeeds. 'False as water' is an eerie story."   ...Monika Tunbäck-Hanson, Göteborgs-Posten

"Unfortunately, the film is a bit stagnant for the first hour. But as soon as the married publisher John houses his new love, the poetess Clara, in a demolition shed, the eerie things begin to thicken in the best Hitchcock style."  ...Hanserik Hjertén, Dagens Nyheter