Nyksund

Nyksund is an old fishing village in Øksnes Municipality in Nordland, Norway. It lies on the northern side of Langøya in Vesterålen, facing the open sea and the surrounding coastal landscape. The village was once an active fishing community, but became partly abandoned during the second half of the twentieth century before later being revived through tourism, culture, restaurants and accommodation. At the time Etter Rubicon and Insomnia was filmed, Nyksund still had a much more weathered and partly abandoned appearance, with several houses in poor condition. Many of these buildings have since been restored, giving the village a very different look today.

Nyksund appears in Etter Rubicon (1987) and Insomnia (1997). Both films use Nyksund as part of a northern Norwegian coastal setting, but they capture the village at a time when it still looked much more abandoned and weathered than it does today. In Etter Rubicon, the village and the surrounding rocks are used for pursuit and crisis scenes connected to the film’s conspiracy plot. In Insomnia, the area appears both around the cabin outside the village and later in the village itself, including the harbour, quay and dilapidated houses.

In Etter Rubicon (1987), Nyksund appears during the film’s northern Norwegian thriller storyline. The film follows Dr Jon Hoff, played by Sverre Anker Ousdal, as he investigates a mysterious and deadly disease connected to the drifting freighter Rubicon and a wider official cover-up. Nyksund is used for scenes in which Hoff and Mona Axsen move through the snowy rocks outside the village while being pursued, desperately looking back as they try to escape. The film also uses the village itself for a dramatic fire scene, where one of the buildings in Nyksund is burning while a helicopter circles above. These scenes connect the old fishing village and the rough coastal landscape around it to the film’s larger story of secrecy, danger and political conspiracy.

In Insomnia (1997), Nyksund appears already in the opening scene, at a small cabin outside the village. The film returns to the same area around seventeen minutes in, when several police officers are watching the cabin to see whether the murderer will return. This cabin lies east of Nyksund, near the motorhome camping area. The exposed landscape around the cabin gives the early part of the investigation a remote coastal setting, away from the town and the police station.

Nyksund returns near the end of Insomnia, around one hour and twenty minutes into the film. This time the film shows more of the village itself, including the harbour, the quay and several dilapidated houses. When the film was made, Nyksund still looked partly abandoned and run-down, with some buildings close to ruin. Today, much of the village has been rebuilt and restored, so these scenes also preserve how Nyksund looked before its later revival.

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