Melancholian 3 huonetta (2004)

Director:

Pirjo Honkasalo

Writer:

Pirjo Honkasalo

Release Date:

8 October 2004 (Finland)

Genre:

Documentary | War

Plot:

A searing examination of the unrelenting Chechen conflict, observed through the prisms of a Russian military boys academy, a war-torn town and a children's refugee camp. |

Plot Keywords:

Children | Military | Chechnya | Chechen War | Children's Home

Awards:

11 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Pirkko Saisio

...

Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Pirjo Honkasalo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Pirjo Honkasalo

Produced by
Heino Deckert	....	co-producer
Lisbet Gabrielsson	....	co-producer
Pirjo Honkasalo	....	co-producer: Baabeli
Lise Lense-Møller	....	co-producer
Kristiina Pervilä	....	producer

Original Music by
Sanna Salmenkallio

Cinematography by
Pirjo Honkasalo

Film Editing by
Nils Pagh Andersen
Pirjo Honkasalo

Sound Department
Jaak Elling	....	sound
Mart Otsa	....	sound
Kristiina Pervilä	....	sound
Olli Pärnänen	....	sound mixer
Martti Turunen	....	sound designer

Visual Effects by
Severi Glanville	....	second on-line editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Marita Hällfors	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Greg Fisher	....	digital post-production
Mika Kongas	....	digital film recordist
Tuija Kotamäki	....	negative cutter
Markku Lind	....	color grader
Tomi Nieminen	....	digital post-production

Music Department
Mikko Oinonen	....	music recordist
Sanna Salmenkallio	....	conductor
Timo 'Tipi' Tuovinen	....	music mixer (as Tipi Tuovinen)
Timo 'Tipi' Tuovinen	....	music producer (as Tipi Tuovinen)
Timo 'Tipi' Tuovinen	....	music recordist (as Tipi Tuovinen)

Other crew
Ralf Stefan Wilhelm Andersson	....	security consultant
Heino Deckert	....	contract consultant
Marita Hällfors	....	assistant to director
Barbro Johansson	....	production secretary
Jan-Eric Nyström	....	titles

Production Companies

• Millenium Film Oy
• Arte (co-production)
• Lisbet Gabrielsson Film AB (co-production)
• Ma.Ja.De Filmproduktion (co-production)
• Magic Hour Films ApS (co-production)
• Sveriges Television (SVT) (co-production)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (co-production: YLE TV2 Dokumenttiprojekti)
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) (co-production)

Distributors

• Against Gravity (2005) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Cinema Delicatessen (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Océan Films (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Arte (France) (TV)
• Arte (Germany) (TV)
• Finnkino (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sveriges Television (SVT) (Sweden) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2006) (Finland) (TV)
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) (Germany) (TV)

Other Companies

• AVEK  production support
• Det Danske Filminstitut  production support
• Finnish Film Foundation  production support
• Nordisk Film- & TV-Fond  production support
• Svenska Filminstitutet (SFI)  production support

Also Known As:

"The 3 Rooms of Melancholia" - USA (festival title)

Runtime:

106 min | Argentina:106 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

Finland | Denmark | Germany | Sweden

Language:

Russian | Arabic | Chechen

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Poland:15 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Grozny, Chechnya, Russia

Company:

Millenium Film Oy

Trivia:

To make this film, Pirjo Honkasalo had to sneak in Chechnya as Russian authorities have restricted foreigners' access to the troublesome region.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ammatti: elokuvaohjaaja - Pirjo Honkasalo (2012) (TV)

absolutely dreadful, but her next film will be great

I expected a lot from this documentary as I had heard many hailing opinions about it, especially from representatives of the Finnish Film Foundation and Finnish AVEK which were the main backers of the film. Even though I had read that Honkasalo made only one brief shooting trip to Checnya for this documentary (Anna Politkovskaja made more than 60 trips for her fatal honest writing) I had full trust in the content of it.

Unfortunately I have to confess that I was terribly disappointed with The Three Rooms of Melancholia. The only thing that made me smile was the view of the end credits and the fact that I had been smart enough to borrow the tape for free. It was really hard to watch this over-pretentious film, cause it was so dreadfully boring due to its contrived and hopelessly thick and artificial feeling of fake melancholy. A gray lifeless sentiment the director Pirjo Honkasalo holds lazily onto throughout the film, arrogantly ignoring the audience natural need for at least some occasional change in the mood.

Despite this complete failure, I think Pirjo Honkasalo's next film Pattaya Go! Go! - currently in the cooker with one of the funniest documentary directors in Scandinavia and with the Finnish Dokumenttikilta association - will become a very thought-provoking and different kind of documentary. In the name of art and entertainment Pirjo Honkasalo will together with her creative allies boldly tell the true story of a group of freshly sacked Finnish paper mill workers' shameless sex trip to Pattaya in Thailand.