Juha (1999)

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

Director:

Aki Kaurismäki

Writers:

Juhani Aho (novel), Aki Kaurismäki (scenario)

Stars:

Sakari Kuosmanen, Kati Outinen, André Wilms

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sakari Kuosmanen	...	Juha
Kati Outinen	...	Marja
André Wilms	...	Shemeikka
Markku Peltola	...	Autonkuljettaja
Elina Salo	...	Shemeikan sisar
Ona Kamu	...	Shemeikan nainen
Outi Mäenpää	...	Shemeikan nainen
Tuire Tuomisto	...	Shemeikan nainen
Tatjana Solovjova	...	Tanssija (as Tatiana Soloviova)
Esko Nikkari	...	Nimismies
Jaakko Talaskivi	...	Henkivartija
Safka Pekkonen	...	Tango-orkesterin jäsen
Sami Kuoppamäki	...	Tango-orkesterin jäsen
Juuso Norlund	...	Tango-orkesterin jäsen
Anssi Tikanmäki	...	Tango-orkesterin jäsen

Storyline

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

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Plot Keywords:

farmer | brothel | womanizer | triangle drama | temptation | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Finland Germany France

Language:

None Finnish

Release Date:

May 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Juha

Filming Locations:

Asematunneli, Helsinki, Finland

Box Office

Budget:

FIM4,773,394 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$159,298

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sputnik, Yleisradio (YLE), Pandora Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie makes references to Nazarin (1959) with an upside-down poster of the film that can be seen on a wall, and also to Samuel Fuller - behind the village police commissioner that Juha goes to see, a sentence is written on the blackboard which says: "Arrest this man! - Sam Fuller".

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Alternate Versions

On international release exist copies of the movie with the speech captions (as the film is essentially silent) and film credits in English instead of the original Finnish.

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Connections

Version of Johan (1921)

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Soundtracks

Le Temps des Cerises
Music by Antoine Renard
Lyrics by Jean-Baptiste Clément
Performed by Elina Salo

User Reviews

A wonderful movie, but IMDb shouldn't call it a comedy!

This was our second Kaurismaki film, and we absolutely loved it. I don't know of any actors other than Kuosmanen and Outinen who have the facial expressions to carry off this role. The sheer goodness and pain of the character of Juha are piercing, and Kati Outinen can convey a million different changing emotions just with her eyes.

We totally agree with the author who pointed out that the attention to detail is one of the things that makes this movie great. Watch Juha and Marja's wedding rings and how their position changes as the movie continues. The movie is certainly not comedy, although there is some very stark and surprising comic relief in very strange places.