Moving Past Trauma

Signe and Thomas are a couple living together in Oslo, where Signe works as a barista while Thomas is an artist who specializes in sculptures made out of stolen furniture. Signe is jealous of the increased attention that Thomas has been receiving, and attempts to plot ways to divert it from him, including attempting to get a dog to attack her after witnessing a similar situation at her workplace. When Thomas lands a major exhibition of his work, Signe upstages his speech at a dinner celebrating its opening by faking a severe allergic reaction. Signe comes across a news article about a Russian anti-anxiety medication called Lidexol, which has been recalled after reports that it has induced severe skin disease in those who have taken it. After purchasing a large quantity of it from Stian, her drug dealer friend, she begins to take it regularly. When symptoms of skin disease begin to present themselves, Signe visits a doctor under Thomas' encouragement, but refuses to allow him to perform any checks. That same day, Thomas is interviewed by a major magazine, leaving him unable to collect Signe from the hospital. Feeling Thomas is not showing her enough attention, Signe deliberately overdoses on Lidexol and is hospitalized, with Thomas spending more time caring for her as a result. Under the recommendation of her mother, Signe begins attending a holistic support group for those with severe illnesses, but is admonished by a group member who believes she is lying. She lands an interview for a major news outlet under the pretence of raising awareness for her condition, but upon publication online, the resulting article is quickly overshadowed by news of a mass shooting. However, the next day, the article is published on the front page of the national newspaper, and leads to Signe signing a modelling contract. She continues to take Lidexol during this time, as a result of which her physical condition deteriorates further. Signe is invited to shoot a commercial in a museum for a fashion brand called Regardless, alongside a model suffering from symbrachydactyly. On the day of the shoot, Thomas is arrested in a furniture store after an employee recognizes him from the front page of the magazine that interviewed him, which describes him as "Thomas the Thief". At the shoot, Signe locks the other model in the bathroom before suddenly collapsing while she is being filmed. Signe reveals to her journalist friend Marte that she has been lying about her ordeal, and Thomas is jailed for his thefts. Signe returns to the support group for solace, once again fabricating her symptoms.