''Frozen Land'' () is a 2005 Finnish
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed and written by
Aku Louhimies
Aku Louhimies (2009)
Aku Urban Louhimies (born 3 July 1968) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He has directed feature films, documentary films, commercials and music videos. His international breakthrough was the 2016 serial drama '' ...
starring
Jasper Pääkkönen,
Mikko Leppilampi and
Pamela Tola. The film's plot is based on
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
's 1911 posthumously published story "
The Forged Coupon", part one, which was also the basis for
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...
's 1983 film ''
L'Argent''.
Plot
When a schoolteacher gets fired from his teaching job (at the same time, Antti joins as a new teacher) he projects his bad mood at his troubled teenage son Niko (
Jasper Pääkkönen) and evicts Niko from his apartment. On New Year's Eve, high on drugs, Niko forges a 500 euro banknote at his friend Tuomas' other friend's party and buys a
CD player from a
pawnshop since his father has sold the old one to get money for alcohol. Seeing a counterfeit 500-euro banknote, the shop owner gets furious and beats the woman Niko had paid with the counterfeit money. When, Isto Virtanen sells his widescreen TV to the same store, the shop owner offers 510 euros and puts in the counterfeit note. When Isto pays with the counterfeit 500 euro note at a restaurant, he gets arrested. When Isto gets out of, he finds out that his car has ended up being vandalized.
Isto breaks into Matikainen's car dealership, which's alarm devices are out of order, so he gets on his travels with a stolen car. Matikainen puts a bad feeling around and takes his car away from the traveling vacuum cleaner dealer Teuvo Hurskanen, because the installments are late. Teuvo talks about it in the
AA club. In the evening, he happens to end up in the same motel with Isto. The well-behaved Isto starts mocking Teuvo at the bar because he doesn't drink alcohol. Teuvo eventually gives up and starts drinking. Together, they bring a woman to Isto's room. Isto and the woman end up in bed and Teuvo is rejected after trying to join in. Teuvo loses his self-control and knocks them both to death with his vacuum cleaner. Teuvo regrets his act in the morning and tries to commit suicide by suffocating but give up. Later, police officer Hannele arrives at the motel and finds the bodies in Isto's room. In the same night of Tuomas' friend's party, Tuomas and Niko break into the Certum company. Niko notices cops, but because of radio connection problem, he fails to get in touch with Tuomas. He quickly escapes the scene. Thomas gets chased by the cops. He escapes to the rail yard, where police officer Hannele chases him, but crashes onto the track and the train runs over her, causing her death. Tuomas is sentenced to eight years in prison for murder. When Tuomas's sentence ends, Niko, now a teacher, receives him and gives him a 500 euro banknote and says that it's real. Tuomas returns home to Elina after his release and sees his son only once. The next day, Tuomas visits Hannele's husband, Antti. Tuomas tries to convince him that he did not commit the
homicide
Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...
. Tuomas and Antti go to the lake where Antti shoots Tuomas. The film ended with its opening scene, Tuomas'
funeral
A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...
, where Niko speaks.
Cast
*
Jasper Pääkkönen as Niko Smolander
*
Mikko Leppilampi as Tuomas Mikael Saraste
*
Pamela Tola as Elina Oravisto
*
Petteri Summanen as Antti Arhamo
*
Matleena Kuusniemi as Hannele Arhamo
*
Mikko Kouki as Isto Virtanen
*Sulevi Peltola as Teuvo "Teukka" Hurskainen
*Pertti Sveholm as Pertti Smolander
*Samuli Edelmann as car seller "Jartsa" Matikainen
*Saara Pakkasvirta as shopkeeper's mother
*Pekka Valkeejärvi as shopkeeper
*Susanna Anteroinen as Headmaster
*Niklas Hellakoski as Konsta
*Emilia Suoperä as Maria, angel in the ambulance
*Jonathan Kajander as Joonatan "Jonttu" Arhamo
Production
Pamela Tola said this movie was a traumatic experience for her. Everything was fine until her character had to attempt suicide by jumping off the balcony. The drop to the ground on the mattress was 20 meters, but she refused to jump without auxiliary cables, and she couldn't do the required volts in the air because she had acrophobia. According to many eyewitnesses,
Aku Louhimies
Aku Louhimies (2009)
Aku Urban Louhimies (born 3 July 1968) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He has directed feature films, documentary films, commercials and music videos. His international breakthrough was the 2016 serial drama '' ...
was furious about this. "He started teasing me so that I broke up, crying hysterically," Tola said. After that, Louhimies invented a rape scene in which Jasper Pääkkönen's character gave Tola drugs and raped her from behind against a sink. "It was uncomfortable and it hurt, but I didn't object because I had already 'ruined' everything," Tola said. According to Louhimies, the scene was invented together with the actors as a solution to Tola's character's suicide attempt.
Awards
The film has won several awards:
*
Athens International Film Festival
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
2005: Best Screenplay
*
Bergen International Film Festival
The Bergen International Film Festival (BIFF) is a film festival held annually in October in Bergen, Norway since 2000. It is one of the biggest film festivals in Norway and among the most important documentary film festivals in the Nordic coun ...
2005: Jury Award
*
Göteborg Film Festival
Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the large ...
2005: Nordic Film Prize
*
Jussi 2006:
**Best Costume Design
**Best Direction
**Best Editing
**Best Film
**Best Script
**Best Sound Design
**Best Supporting Actor
**Best Supporting Actress
*
Leeds International Film Festival
The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is an annual film festival hosted in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest film festival in England outside of London. Founded in 1987, it is held in November in various venues throughou ...
2005: Golden Owl Award
*
Lübeck Nordic Film Days 2005: NDR Promotion Prize – Honorable Mention
*
27th Moscow International Film Festival 2005: Special Jury Prize
References
External links
*
{{Jussi Award for Best Film
2000s Finnish-language films
2005 drama films
2005 films
Films directed by Aku Louhimies
Films based on works by Leo Tolstoy
Films based on Russian novels
Finnish drama films
Hyperlink films
Films about counterfeit money
2000s Finnish films
Buena Vista International films