Insomnia is a 1997 Norwegian thriller film about a police detective investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle.

The title of the film refers to his inability to sleep, the result of his guilt, represented by the relentless glare of the midnight sun.

When 17-year-old Tanja is found murdered in the city of Tromsø, far up in the Norwegian Arctic, Kripos police officers Jonas Engström (Stellan Skarsgård) and Erik Vik (Sverre Anker Ousdal) are called in to investigate.

When one of his colleagues, Hilde Hagen (Gisken Armand), is assigned to investigate Vik's death, Engström becomes worried about ballistic fingerprinting and tampers with evidence to support his story.

Haunted by guilt and unable to sleep with the midnight sun of the Arctic, Engström becomes increasingly unhinged and starts hallucinating about Vik.

Just before he leaves town, Engström is visited by Hagen, who shows him a cartridge case found at the site where Vik was shot.

[2] For the New York Times, Janet Maslin praised the principal performance by Skarsgård and added that "Mr. Skjoldbjærg's understated, elliptical direction keeps the material dangerous and volatile, with frequent small touches of the unexpected as Engstrom shows increasing signs of strain.

The site's consensus states that: "taut and chilly, Insomnia is a solid showcase for Stellan Skarsgård's estimable acting, and a brilliant debut for director Erik Skjoldbjærg.