In 1958 Stockholm, 15-year-old Erik Ponti suffers daily beatings from his sadistic stepfather while his mother, too afraid to intervene, plays piano to drown out the noise.

To give him a fresh start, Erik's mother sells family heirlooms to send him to Stjärnsberg, an upscale boarding school.

When Erik stands up to Council members Silverhielm and Dahlén, he becomes their target, enduring relentless bullying for refusing to comply with their humiliating demands.

In the school kitchens one weekend, Erik meets Marja, a Finnish cafeteria staff member, after a tough day of work.

Meanwhile, Erik joins the swimming team and faces a dilemma: to win, he must defeat the school champion, son of a major donor.

Threatening to expose the culture of negligence among staff, Erik is reinstated, receives Marja's letter, and completes his final semester in peace.

Determined to build a better future, Erik plans to reach out to Marja, aspiring to start a family and pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer.

Originally conceived as a television series, director Mikael Håfström felt unready for an extensive production and instead waited until he could convince the producers to make it into a feature film.

[5] Finally the director recalled Andreas Wilson, a young male model with very limited acting experience whom he had previously met briefly at a birthday party.

[8] The original building of Solbacka still exists as a recreation centre for golfers, but had been renovated to such a degree that the director felt it could not be used as a believable filming location.

[6] Songs heard in the film includes "Stupid Cupid" by Neil Sedaka, "The Great Pretender" by The Platters, "Weisser Halunder" by Inger Berggren, and "Peggy Sue" by Buddy Holly & The Crickets.

The website's critical consensus states, "Evil's attempts to unpack the causes and effects of violence aren't always successful, but the well-acted end result still has an unsettling impact.

[13] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".