Tove (2020)

Directed by: Zaida Bergroth | 100 minutes | biography, drama | Actors: Alma Pöysti, Krista Kosonen, Shanti Roney, Joanna Haartti, Kajsa Ernst, Robert Enckell, Jakob Öhrman, Eeva Putro, Wilhelm Enckell, Liisi Tandefelt, Emma Klingenberg, Juhana Ryynänen, Henrik Wolff, Dick Idman, Simon Häger

Tove Jansson is known worldwide as a writer and illustrator of the Moomin series of books and comics. The first book, published in 1945, barely caught on, but from the second part (from 1946) the fame of the Moomins only increased, in Scandinavia and later also far beyond. This is about the time when the film ‘Tove’ steps in: when Jansson (beautifully played by Alma Pöysti) doesn’t really get a job as an artist and mainly continues with the Moomins to pay her bills. Much to the chagrin of her father, the acclaimed sculptor Viktor Jansson (Robert Enckell), who finds the drawings and stories too frivolous to be considered true art.

Anyone who expects the film to build on this clash is wrong. Although Tove’s difficult relationship with her father is mentioned several times, it is never really explored in depth. Just as it is not clarified that Tove has in fact partly followed in her mother’s footsteps, illustrator Signe Jansson (Kajsa Ernst). The dynamic between father and mother is even completely omitted. In fact, even in all the interaction between Tove and her mother, it is never about art. A remarkable loss. So what does the film focus on? A footnote from the life story of Tove Jansson: her secret relationship with the Finnish theater maker and daughter of the mayor Vivica Bandler (Krista Kosonen).

In Finland, homosexuality was officially banned until 1971, so an intense story is up for grabs. Add to that that, meanwhile, Tove was also openly dating married Finnish Social Democrat Atos Wirtanen (Shanti Roney) — so openly, in fact, that his wife calls Tove’s house to remind her husband of a family meeting — and you’ve got plenty of ingredients. for a dazzling drama. Director Zaida Bergroth and screenwriter Eeva Putro (who herself has a role in the film as Tove’s artist friend) are to be commended for not pushing the drama too hard. Tove is completely open to both about her love and her desire for freedom and all the drama there is going on inside her.

Tove is completely absorbed in the bohemian existence as an artist. She lives in the same one-room apartment all the time, which at the same time serves as a studio (if she can’t pay the rent, she just picks a painting off the floor) and the most intense scenes are those where she lets herself dance with or without her artist friends. go to jazz music. Most scenes take place indoors, with the camera frequently hovering over Alma Pöysti’s expressive face. The atmosphere and especially the decoration are excellent, so as a period picture the film is certainly a success. But where it gnaws is the question: how decisive was the period covered by film (ca. 1946-1956)?

We see Tove Jansson grappling with the fact that she gets more appreciation for her Moomin comics than for her painting, but how she will eventually relate to Moomin, apart from a handy source of income, is left open. Part of her identity is her bisexuality, but her later life partner, the Finnish artist Tuulikki Pietilä, with whom she would have been together for more than 40 years until her death, gets off with a minimal introduction towards the end of the film. As a viewer you are continuously close to her skin, but the question is whether you really get to know Tove Jansson. You have to make do with the image of a frenzied dancing Alma Pöysti (mirrored in the credits with original images of a dancing Tove Jansson). Fortunately, that in itself makes up for a lot.