Known as the master of Finnish melodrama, director Teuvo Tulio certainly earns that title with MUSTASUKKAISUUS ("Jealousy"). Apparently the 1946 original, LEVOTON VERI, is even wilder, but for me this will certainly do.
Like many of Tulio's films, the plot has the naivete of a fairy tale or legend: rescued by a logger when their raft is caught in the rapids, two sisters, Riitta (Regina Linnenheimo) and Anja (Assi Raine), fall in love with their handsome savior, Jyri (Eero Paganus), with the strong-headed Riitta eventually seducing him and winning his hand in marriage. When a family tragedy caused by Riitta drives Jyri from their home, Riitta goes mad, losing her eyesight. After Jyri returns, Riitta - still blind - begins to suspect a romance growing between him and her sister, a suspicion that drives her to more and more drastic actions.
In its broad strokes little more than a sappy melodrama, MUSTASUKKAISUUS nevertheless remains of interest for just how crazily operatic it's willing to get. Early developments, like a brawl between Jyri and a fellow logger in a sauna (featuring shocking-for-'53 full-frontal nudity and beating EASTERN PROMISES to the punch by a cool five decades), are mere appetizers for how bonkers things get in the third act (SPOILERS): after trying several times to kill her own sister, Riitta goes for an operation to restore her eyesight and, despite its success, returns home claiming it has failed. She spends the final 20 minutes of the movie pretending to be blind so she can further sabotage her sister's (suspected) romance.
Dealing with such heady material, it's a surprise any of it works as well as it does, but top-billed Linnenheimo, whom I quite enjoyed in the director's subsequent film, OLET MENNYT MINUN VEREENI ("You've Gone into My Blood"), once again acquits herself well, proving her star power. With a performing style more often resembling a silent actress, Linnenheimo is blessed with a wonderfully expressive face and reaches a zenith of charm in her seduction scene, a surprisingly frank piece of filmmaking for 1953 which sees her coquettishly disrobing behind a half-closed door and slowly luring Jyri in with her charms. She's like this throughout the film, sinking her teeth into moments of girlish levity and utter derangement with equal aplomb. It's a perfect encapsulation of the film's bizarre clash of tones, where action is often framed and edited with the stiffness of an early talkie, but with a discordant boldness regarding sex that wouldn't reach most of the rest of the West for a good 10-15 years. The other two leads do well in what's largely a three-hander, but it's nevertheless clear why Linnenheimo appears to be Tulio's muse: the two work great together, elevating what seems like a turgid weepie into something more engaging than it has any right to be. I'm still not sure if that fully qualifies as masterful melodrama, but it's at least *maximal* melodrama, and that has to count for something.
Like many of Tulio's films, the plot has the naivete of a fairy tale or legend: rescued by a logger when their raft is caught in the rapids, two sisters, Riitta (Regina Linnenheimo) and Anja (Assi Raine), fall in love with their handsome savior, Jyri (Eero Paganus), with the strong-headed Riitta eventually seducing him and winning his hand in marriage. When a family tragedy caused by Riitta drives Jyri from their home, Riitta goes mad, losing her eyesight. After Jyri returns, Riitta - still blind - begins to suspect a romance growing between him and her sister, a suspicion that drives her to more and more drastic actions.
In its broad strokes little more than a sappy melodrama, MUSTASUKKAISUUS nevertheless remains of interest for just how crazily operatic it's willing to get. Early developments, like a brawl between Jyri and a fellow logger in a sauna (featuring shocking-for-'53 full-frontal nudity and beating EASTERN PROMISES to the punch by a cool five decades), are mere appetizers for how bonkers things get in the third act (SPOILERS): after trying several times to kill her own sister, Riitta goes for an operation to restore her eyesight and, despite its success, returns home claiming it has failed. She spends the final 20 minutes of the movie pretending to be blind so she can further sabotage her sister's (suspected) romance.
Dealing with such heady material, it's a surprise any of it works as well as it does, but top-billed Linnenheimo, whom I quite enjoyed in the director's subsequent film, OLET MENNYT MINUN VEREENI ("You've Gone into My Blood"), once again acquits herself well, proving her star power. With a performing style more often resembling a silent actress, Linnenheimo is blessed with a wonderfully expressive face and reaches a zenith of charm in her seduction scene, a surprisingly frank piece of filmmaking for 1953 which sees her coquettishly disrobing behind a half-closed door and slowly luring Jyri in with her charms. She's like this throughout the film, sinking her teeth into moments of girlish levity and utter derangement with equal aplomb. It's a perfect encapsulation of the film's bizarre clash of tones, where action is often framed and edited with the stiffness of an early talkie, but with a discordant boldness regarding sex that wouldn't reach most of the rest of the West for a good 10-15 years. The other two leads do well in what's largely a three-hander, but it's nevertheless clear why Linnenheimo appears to be Tulio's muse: the two work great together, elevating what seems like a turgid weepie into something more engaging than it has any right to be. I'm still not sure if that fully qualifies as masterful melodrama, but it's at least *maximal* melodrama, and that has to count for something.
