De behandeling (2014)

Belgian Chief Inspector Nick Cafmeyer is haunted by the kidnapping of his brother Bjorn by a pedophile when they were both children. Now he arrives at a house where a family was held captive for three days. The parents, Alex and Cindy Simons, survived, but their nine-year-old son Robin has disappeared and was probably abducted by the perpetrator. Red writing mixed with urine on the wall points to female toxins. Nick questions Mrs. Simons, who saw a camera flash while she was being held captive. As he is about to leave the house, a little girl mentions a troll in a tree. In a newly built housing development, Nick visits the Vankerkhove family, the first to live there. The mother, Steffi, is missing milk, and her son Joff also talks about the troll. Nick’s colleague Iris Kryotos finds an article about prolactin, and he asks her to search the files under the keyword “troll.” His colleague Danni Petit expresses concern about Nick’s past. They try together to question Alex Simons at the hospital, but get no useful information. At home, Nick reads a letter from Ivan Plettinckx, who was the prime suspect in Bjorn’s case 25 years ago. During a renewed search of the park with sniffer dogs, Nick finds Robin’s body in a tree. The forensic examination reveals a bite wound on the child’s back and signs of sexual abuse. During his birthday party that evening, Nick sees Plettinckx standing in his garden, where he terrorizes him, and Nick believes that the former suspect is somehow connected to Robin’s case as well. Iris tells him that Robin lay in the tree for two days and died of thirst. She has also found an old case from the 1990s using the keyword “troll.” Nick speaks with the investigator from that case, who shows him photographs. At the time, an anonymous caller said that the child in the photos was his son and that the “troll” had done it. Nick breaks into Plettinckx’s house and learns that he has incurable lung cancer. A little later, Nick finds him with a rope around his neck. Before Nick can get any more information out of the suspect, he hangs himself. As the Vankerkhove family is about to leave for an outing, Steffi collapses and shortly afterward is found bound in handcuffs. With the help of a treasure map sent to him anonymously, Nick finds a metal box containing videotapes near the railway line where Bjorn disappeared. At home, he watches the videos. They show Bjorn being sexually abused. Nick spots a tattoo on a woman’s shoulder and a license plate. The license plate leads him to the now-deceased pedophile Ronny Lammers and his wife, Nancy. He goes to see her. She is hostile, but seems to know Plettinckx. According to Danni, the bite wound on Robin’s body was made by a man. The witness Bela Nercessian reveals that Alex Simons is Armenian and that his real name is Alerian Simonian. He spent two years in prison for sexually harassing a minor. Outside the Simons family home, a man approaches Nick, introduces himself as Robin’s swimming instructor, and reports that the children talk about a troll that climbs up walls. Behind the house, Nick finds Alex Simons and takes him to the lab, but Alex resists having a dental impression taken. However, the lab says the semen found on Robin’s body came from him. Meanwhile, Nancy is holding Bjorn captive. She offers Nick more information, but only in exchange for 3,000 euros. While he goes to get the money, Danni uses the tattoo from the video to link Nancy to the case and arrests her. The police have been looking for Nancy for a long time. The lab technician who took Alex Simons’s dental impression discovers that it does not match the bite on Robin’s body. So the real perpetrator is still at large. In an attic, Nick discovers his hiding place and climbing gear. This leads him to the swimming instructor, Chris Gommaer, who is under a restraining order concerning his son. Nick shows Gommaer the photos from the old case, in which he appears with his son. Gommaer says he was forced by the troll. Nick and Danni confront Alex Simons with the new information, and it turns out that the same thing happened in his family. Nick thinks about the smell of urine in the Simons family home. Gommaer reveals that the perpetrator is impotent and had previously slit open a policewoman. Steffi Vankerkhove, still bound, has scratched a hole in the floor and can now see her husband, Hans, and their son Joff, also bound, on the floor below. Following the clue about the murdered policewoman, Iris identifies the perpetrator as Roland Claeren. In his house, Nick and Danni find documents pointing to prolactin and female hormones as causes of impotence. The perpetrator carries out his own special treatment. The investigators also find photographs of the crimes and many containers of urine. A new photograph shows them that there are new victims. Nick follows up with Alex Simons, who talks about urine and missing milk bottles. This makes Nick remember the Vankerkhove family. At their house, Claeren is about to escape with Joff, who also has a bite wound on his back. Claeren initially gets away without the child, but Nick catches up with him and beats him until Danni stops his rage. In the end, Nick hands the videotapes to his colleague as evidence against Nancy Lammers and announces that he is going to sell the house. But Bjorn remains captive.