''Juha'' is a 1999 Finnish film produced, written, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. The film is loosely based on a famous 1911 novel by the Finnish author

Juhani Aho Juhani Aho, originally Johannes Brofeldt (11 September 1861 – 8 August 1921), was a Finnish author and journalist. He was nominated for the Nobel prize in literature twelve times. Early life Juhani Aho was born at Lapinlahti in 1861. His pa ...

marking this as the fourth time the novel was adapted for the screen. The original story takes place in the 18th century but Kaurismäki's remake is set sometime in the latter half of the 20th century. It tells the story of a love triangle where a simple peasant woman leaves her husband after falling in love with a modern

city slicker {{wiktionarypar, city slicker City slicker is an idiomatic expression for someone accustomed to a city or urban lifestyle and unsuited to life in the country. The term was typically used as a term of derision by rural Americans and Canadians who ...

. ''Juha'' is a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

with dialogue in the form of

intertitle In films, an intertitle, also known as a title card, is a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of (i.e., ''inter-'') the photographed action at various points. Intertitles used to convey character dialogue are referred to as "dialo ...

s. Special

release print A release print is a copy of a film that is provided to a movie theater for exhibition. Definitions Release prints are not to be confused with other types of prints used in the photochemical post-production process: * Rush prints, or dailies, ...

s with titles in several different languages were produced for international distribution.

Plot

Marja (

Kati Outinen Anna Katriina "Kati" Outinen (born 17 August 1961) is a Finnish actress who has often played leading female roles in Aki Kaurismäki's films. Outinen was born in Helsinki. Having studied under Jouko Turkka during his "reign" of drama studies i ...

) is a simple peasant woman married to her older husband Juha ( Sakari Kuosmanen). They lead a very simple country life, spending most of their days farming and tending to their livestock. Marja's world is turned upside down when Shemeikka ( André Wilms) comes to the happily married couple asking them for help with his broken down sports

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

and a place to spend the night. As Juha works to repair the car, Shemeikka attempts to lure Marja to leave Juha and come to the city with him. A hesitant Marja does not want to leave her husband at first but ultimately gives in to temptation after dreaming of a wonderful new life in a big city. Shemeikka and Marja leave for the city but Marja's dream quickly becomes a nightmare when Shemeikka enslaves her in a brothel.

Cast and characters

* Sakari Kuosmanen - Juha *

- Marja * André Wilms - Shemeikka *

Markku Peltola Markku Peltola (12 July 1956 – 31 December 2007) was a Finnish people, Finnish actor and musician. He was born and grew up in Helsinki. He was actively involved in founding and acting with the Telakka Theater in Tampere. Peltola is best kn ...

- Driver *

Elina Salo Aino Elina Salo (born 9 March 1936 in Sipoo, Finland) is a Finnish film, theatre and television actress who has also done work in radio as a voice actor in children’s programming. In her career that began in 1956, Salo has appeared in over 50 fi ...

- Shemeikka's Sister * Ona Kamu - Shemeikka's Woman * Outi Mäenpää - Shemeikka's Woman * Tuire Tuomisto - Shemeikka's Woman *

Esko Nikkari Esko Nikkari (23 November 1938 – 17 December 2006) was a prolific Finnish actor who made more than 70 appearances on film and television. He was born in Lapua, and made his screen debut in 1974 in the movie ''Karvat''. Nikkari was a workhorse ...

- Rural Police Chief

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Juha'' has a rating of 40%, based on five reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juha 1999 films Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki 1990s Finnish-language films Finnish black-and-white films 1999 romantic comedy-drama films Films based on Finnish novels Finnish romantic comedy films Silent films

Plot

Cast and characters

Critical response

See also

References

External links