Four Little Adults
Selma Vilhunen's bittersweet drama from Finland follows a middle-aged couple as they attempt to open up their marriage.
Aki Kaurismäki and to a lesser extent his brother Mika are the only Finnish filmmakers whose names have been famous enough in the last fifty years or so for their work to readily attract distribution in the UK. Consequently, it is not surprising to learn that Selma Vilhunen, the writer and director of Four Little Adults, has been making films for years, many of them documentaries, without becoming a known name in Britain. Furthermore, if the leading actress in this latest film of hers, Alma Pöysti, is familiar to us it is not because she has been acting for two decades but because she was the star of Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves released internationally last year. She was wonderful in that and here, offering a very different characterisation, she is again splendid – which is in line with the fact that Four Little Adults is a notably well-acted film. It's also a film that intrigues and does so often, but not always, for the right reasons.
Vilhunen's story has four characters at its centre including a married couple, Pöysti’s Juulia and Matias played by Eero Milonoff. The other two are Enni (Oona Airola) who has been the mistress of Matias for close on two years and Miska (Pietu Wilkström) who is both a nurse and a drag performer and who identifies as non-binary. Starting one October, the tale unfolds over some fifteen months and the plot kicks in when a friend of Juulia (Timo Viljanen) chooses to reveal to her her husband’s long-term liaison. The first consequences of this disclosure follow what might be considered a typical course: Juulia confronts Matias and then in her anguish walks out. But the fact is that she still loves her husband and does not want to lose him and there is indeed a rapprochement which initially suggests that Matias may give up Enni. But, like the husband in Agnès Varda’s Le Bonheur (1965), Matias appears to be in love with both of the women simultaneously and Juulia recognises that. She has a stronger character than Matias and it is she who proposes a solution in the form of polyamory. That way Matias can have both her and Enni and she is free to take on an additional relationship too – which in due course she does when she and a friend visit a gay bar and she encounters Miska.
The early scenes in Four Little Adults feel a bit rushed as the main characters are introduced but the film has got into its stride and settled down by the time that it reaches a key scene. This occurs when Juulia has asked to meet Enni and she is invited to pay a polite social visit to the home of Juulia and Matias. This is the occasion when Juulia takes the others by surprise by discussing a book that she has read about polyamory and then proposing this as something that they themselves should adopt. The balance between what brings these three together and the genteel nature of their tea party gathering makes for delicious comedy which is then heightened by references to the book, copies of which Juulia hands to both Matias and Enni. The set-up in which they find themselves gains extra irony from the fact that Matias is a priest while Juulia is an MP involved in the Equality Party which at its meetings frequently discusses patterns and strains in domestic life.
In this day and age those who hear of this film might expect it to be a work which, whether the tone be dramatic or comic, will take a modern anything goes attitude regarding the behaviour depicted. To be aware of how inept people can be in handling relationships is not in itself to be disapproving but it adds to the effectiveness of many scenes in which comic touches work a treat without ever undermining the credibility of the characters. However, as the months pass and other developments occur, there is a sense of this open arrangement not leading to satisfaction for any of the four participants and of it having an adverse effect on Miro (Livo Tuuri) the young son of Juulia and Matias. When the mother of Matias, Kaarina (Kaija Pakarinen), expresses disapproval of how her son is now living, she could simply be representing the old-fashioned viewpoint of an older generation, but then one considers the film’s unusual title which carries the implication that the four central figures are immature.
If the tone of the piece changes and develops that is no bad thing and indeed it heightens our curiosity as to just where this tale is going. But, having held up well for more than an hour and a half, the film suddenly seems to lack any real sense of direction in its last scenes and then proceeds to reach an unexpected finale. It had appeared that the character of the film was to some extent darkening but that makes it difficult to come to terms with a conclusion that is surprisingly upbeat and positive and not without a touch of sentimental contrivance too. At that late point what intrigues is the question of what was really intended here and why. But, if this weakens the film, what counts far more is the quality and individuality of everything that precedes this finale. As a work of strong individual character that is splendidly acted Four Little Adults offers many pleasures even if its final scenes seem misjudged.
Original title: Neljä pientä aikuista.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Alma Pöysti, Eero Milonoff, Oona Airola, Pietu Wilkström, Livo Tuuri, Kaija Pakarinen, Esko Roine, Timo Viljanen, Emilia Sinisalo, Peter Kanerva, Saaga Salo, Isla Mustanoja, Vilhelm Blomgren.
Dir Selma Vilhunen, Pro Venia Hellstedt and Elli Toivoniemi, Screenplay Selma Valhunen, Ph Juice Huhtala, Pro Des Sattvahanna Toiviainen, Ed Antti Reikko, Music Sarah Assbring and Jacob Haage, Costumes Karolina Kolso Kanttila.
Tuffi Films/Aurora Studios/Finnish Impact Film Fund/Hobab-Modern Films.
123 mins. Finland. 2023. UK Rel: 7 June 2024. Cert. 18.
