Jan Gunnar Røise and Gina Jaqueline in 'Cute' San Sebastian Film Festival When Marlene Emilie Lyngstad hosted San Sebastian Film Festival director José Luis Rebordinos for a screening of her debut feature, Cute, she was admittedly extremely nervous.
“It is a film that divides the audience,” the Norwegian filmmaker tells The Hollywood Reporter at the town’s Hotel Maria Cristina on Sunday. “I was very nervous to hear [whether] people saw the intentions of the film or if they saw it as a provocation… We know that people haven’t walked out. [But] maybe when they [read] what the film is about, they don’t want to see it.”
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Thankfully, Rebordinos saw exactly what Lyngstad had set out to do in this bold, unsettling confrontation of sexual taboos, fetishes and pedophilia, and gave her a coveted spot in this year’s New Directors selection. The Danish drama, written by Lyngstad and Emilie Koefoed Larse, follows a man called Richard (Jan Gunnar Røise). When he finds himself troubled by forbidden feelings for his seven-year-old stepdaughter, Richard decides to leave his girlfriend and retreats to his childhood home, but his self-imposed exile is disrupted by the childlike presence of his mother’s caregiver, Stella, who is battling her own discomfort with aging. Richard soon discovers her double life as a Lolita camgirl, and the two develop a transgressive surrogate father-daughter relationship.
The Nordisk Film Production is, indeed, as dicey as it sounds: Røise’s character clings to the stepchild’s frilly, pink sock as he sleeps, pleasures himself to her voice, and enjoys infantilizing Stella by feeding her dinner and brushing her teeth.
So, during the years-long development of this film, Lyngstad searched far and wide for actors who could do such a sensitive “hot topic” justice. In Gina Jaqueline, an OnlyFans creator and social media influencer — and who has so much in common with Stella that she couldn’t believe Lyngstad was unaware of her previous work — the character was brought to life with, to the director’s delight, unnerving authenticity.
It also happens to be Jaqueline’s acting debut, in which she actually found herself most daunted by Stella and Richard’s emotional connection — not the fetishized age play they soon get tangled up in. “I can play around with things, but to mix the age play with feelings, I wouldn’t personally do it in my real life,” Jaqueline tells THR. “[And] I really adored playing with Jan and I really like him as a person and as an actor, but his role… I had a hard time finding sympathy for that.”
Below, Lyngstad and Jaqueline explain that they’re not asking the audience to like or approve of Richard’s desires. The pair discuss Sunday’s premiere, where they hope attendees will leave with questions, as well as using real items from Jaqueline’s home (she’s a self-professed “cute” collector), and deliberately leaving the movie open-ended: “It’s so hard but it doesn’t disappear if we don’t touch on these topics… It only makes space for it to grow undercover and get worse for people.”
This is, undoubtedly, an unsettling film. You’ve talked about leaning into that — how did this journey begin?
MARLENE EMILIE LYNGSTAD In most of my films, I start with this sense of being unsettled by something because I think this is a very stimulating starting point. [It takes] many years to create a film, so it’s important for me to start with something that adds questions — that you can never finish and give an answer to. And for this film, it started when I met this woman during my last process for [2023 short] Norwegian Offspring, who was part of a BDSM community, and she was doing something called age play, which is the dynamic between a caregiver and someone who’s being cared for, and I was very fascinated by her. Of course, there is something unsettling with sexuality [being] connected with childhood. But I was also surprised to see that there was such an emotional core in it — that her need was not actually sexual. It was more about regressing to this state where you can be loved unconditionally, and where you can be cared for. That was actually the starting point.
And this woman served as inspiration for Gina’s character?
LYNGSTAD Yes!
GINA JAQUELINE Was it the girl that liked to play a fox as well?
LYNGSTAD Yes.
JAQUELINE That was the first thing that Marlene came to my apartment and told me about. I mean, we thought that was quite fun. In the film, we changed it to a cat. I have this cat robe, just for wearing because it keeps me warm. And we did some test shoots where I was playing a cat [wearing it].
From left: Director Marlene Emilie Lyngstad; a still from her debut feature Cute. Nordisk Film Marlene, how did you come across Gina?
LYNGSTAND Someone made a documentary with Gina many, many years ago, 10 years ago. And I saw that documentary because it was also on Norwegian television. I remembered in this documentary that she was a collector of cute items. She had a lot — both clothes and objects. And for this film, I really wanted to talk with people who had this appreciation for the “cute” aesthetic. Then Gina told me that she also has a previous history with OnlyFans, like Stella the character.
JAQUELINE We had this meeting. You told me that you had this idea for the character, and I was so surprised to hear that because I could see from the look on Marlene’s face that she was being genuine about not knowing this part of my life. So when I opened up to her about it, it was such a crazy coincidence, and we couldn’t really believe it. And we had many examples of these situations where Marlene had an idea for the character, and then it just suddenly fit into my life. It connected so well with previous experiences in my life that she had no clue about. It was really weird.
Did you know when Marlene came to you that she wanted you to be in the film?
JAQUELINE No! I never expected to get the role at all, and it was a really long process from when she started [working on] the film. It took several years, and she obviously had other girls in for casting, and I expected Stella to be more girl-next-door. More Scandinavian, blonde.
LYNGSTAD (Laughs.)
JAQUELINE I thought she was gonna go for that type. So I was actually quite surprised when I ended up getting the role. I remember I was going for a meeting with you guys, and I realized that the meeting was for two hours and not for one hour. I was like, “Okay, am I gonna get this role?” And then I ended up getting it. I was really surprised and really honored.
Marlene, what did you see in Gina?
LYNGSTAD Well, it was because we had this casting process with a lot of trained actors, and then of course, Gina has no background in theater school. But what Gina had was this ability to lift the scene up from the page and take it to places where I didn’t imagine that it would go, and in that sense it was very, very stimulating to have fun with this role.
JACQUELINE We had a lot of fun in the beginning when we were test filming. You thought I got hurt for real and I was crying.
LYNGSTAD I stopped the scene once because she started crying. She was like, “I’m acting, Marlene!” (Laughs.) But yeah, she really made this character come alive in that sense and [it was] mystical to me.
Gina, was the prospect of acting in your first feature film daunting?
JAQUELINE The scary part for me wasn’t really the age play thing. The scary part for me was more the idea of bringing myself to that point where I was romantically connected with this guy. That was really hard for me because it was not so natural. I can play around with things, but to mix the age play with feelings, I wouldn’t personally do it in my real life. The hard part was definitely the emotional connection.
LYNGSTAD Because it’s one thing doing it online, where you play out this Lolita character…
JAQUELINE Or for profit or for fun, or you do it for both, as I did.
LYNGSTAD But in your private home […] we wanted to make these kitschy scenarios but in an emotionally founded, authentic way.
The attention to detail was great. Small things in Stella’s room — the lava lamp, Hello Kitty — that evoke the wholesomeness and innocence of a child. It’s interesting that you say she was searching for someone to take care of her. For Richard, it’s sexual. She enters something of a transactional relationship. There’s that brilliant glance Gina gives to the camera at the end where it’s like Stella knows exactly what she’s doing.
JAQUELINE I definitely knew what I was doing. (Laughs.)
LYNGSTAD (Laughs.) Yeah. Of course, Richard’s intentions are sexual. But I think there’s also a part of him that wants to be with [Stella] because she has this openness, and she is someone he might actually expose himself to and tell about his shame.
JAQUELINE I might be the first person he ever talked about this and I accepted him for who he was in the movie. And that was one of the trickier parts. I really adored playing with Jan and I really like him as a person and as an actor, but his role… I had a hard time finding sympathy for that. It was something I really needed to dig into, finding something I didn’t know I had inside me, to make it work. Because we [shot] it chronologically. The further we went, the more difficult it was for me to find sympathy or try find something that looked like it.
Are you asking us as an audience to find sympathy with Richard’s character?
LYNGSTAD I just wanted people to look at him and maybe understand him, in a sense, but I don’t ask them to identify with him. You don’t even need to like him. I just want people to think about all the questions that he brings to the table…
JAQUELINE And all the answers he brings to the table! Because he opens up a world that, if you’re a little bit curious about people in general, is a hot topic. It’s so hard but it doesn’t disappear if we don’t touch on those topics. I think it only makes space for it to grow undercover and get worse for people. The less we understand them, the less hope there is for them, because no one will ever understand them or even listen to them.
What kind of questions do you hope people are asking after this San Sebastian screening?
LYNGSTAD I think it would be very interesting to hear how people experience the relationship between Richard and Stella in the end — if people think that’s genuine love, or if it’s just pretend. Because that also asks the question about this character, Richard, and if people think that he is allowed to be loved.
Both Jan and Gina give such interesting performances. He’s seemingly very controlled, and Gina, you’re more…
JAQUELINE Rowdy? Messy? I’m very confused all the time. (Laughs.)
Out of interest, how was the process of getting this film funded? Did you find that the subject matter made it more difficult to get people on board?
LYNGSTAD We made this through New Danish Screen, which is a debut [section] of the Danish Film Institute, and we actually got the green light to make the film before the script was finished. It was some kind of loophole where one consultant had to stop, and then she gave [us] the money before she left. But based on our graduation film, Norwegian Offspring, we were the same crew entirely and they wanted to see what we did next. They gave us liberty. Then I made the film through Nordisk Film Production and a lot of people read the script throughout the [filming], so people did confirm we could make it. (Laughs.) But it was low budget, so you didn’t have high risks.
How long was the shoot?
LYNGSTAD Six weeks.
JAQUELINE Every day for me! We had weekends, but then I needed to make songs on the weekend that I had to sing in the movie. (Laughs.) […] And I really hope when people think about Hello Kitty, they think about me.
Of course, there was your Hello Kitty zip-up that you wear.
JAQUELINE I’ve had it since I was 12.
You brought in your own stuff?
JAQUELINE They rented a lot of my stuff to make the apartment and the universe they wanted to make for Stella. So it wasn’t my apartment, but [Lyngstad] saw the big collection and it was easier to find things there, so obviously, I gave them the green light to pick whatever they wanted. From my wardrobe as well, but not so many of the clothes were mine.
Have you caught the acting bug now? Do you want to do more films?
JAQUELINE Yes, I do. I grew up playing theater together with all my friends. […] That was all we wanted. But at the end of the day, I needed someone else to choose me. I don’t believe in the phrase, “I just want to be an actor,” or, “Maybe because I have some extra money, I can just get an education and pay for myself.” You need some other people to choose you also. You can’t just say, “Oh, I want to be a singer, I want to be an actor.” That would be quite delusional! So I really hope that maybe some other people see the film and find it interesting. But otherwise, I’ll be happy to [have] just this experience. It’s a once-in-a-million experience for me, and that’s all that matters.
How was it getting the news that you were going to be bringing the film to San Sebastian?
LYNGSTAD Insane. We had a screening for the director of the festival [José Luis Rebordinos] in Denmark, and after the screening, he seemed very interested in the film. We had a long conversation about it. And of course, he couldn’t say then that they had picked the film, but he seemed intrigued, at least. So that really gave me a boost, because of course it is a film that divides the audience. I was very nervous to hear [whether] people saw the intentions of the film or if they saw it as a provocation. But he could really see the film for what I tried to do, and that was very relieving.
JAQUELINE And I do understand that because I think there are very few things worse than people who only do things to intentionally provoke.
Have you seen split reactions from people so far? Some think it’s provocative and others don’t understand what you set out to do?
LYNGSTAD I think so. It hasn’t been shown that much yet, but we had some screenings in Denmark and we know that people haven’t walked out. [But] maybe when they [read] what the film is about, they don’t want to see it. So we have gotten split reactions.
I don’t think anyone should not watch a film because you’re going to feel uncomfortable.
JAQUELINE It’s quite healthy, but many people don’t want to be healthy.
This interview has been shortened and edited for clarity. The 2026 San Sebastian International Film Festival runs Sep. 18-26.
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