Sensuela

Recommended a must see by a Finnish film industry enthusiast, as an epitome of the best oddities that Finnish film can offer = absolutely right in that any adventurous film fan MUST watch this labour of love: it took the director OVER ten years in the making and to get it up on screen - of a superb anti-patriarchal objectification of women as mere sex objects tract - told, by - well, naturally, huh; objectifying women as mere sex objects. Already cult kitsch kudos!. And that's especially so as apparently in Finland, when it eventually got distributed theatrically, it got so sidelined, that 'only 665 paying customers' ever so saw it!* And that's even with, or perhaps because, the then - mid seventies, remember - Finnish censors insisted 5 minutes be cut out of it to get this already severely restricted theatrical release. And what of? Gorgeous dark eyed beauty main actress, Marianne Mardi NOT naked, NOT even topless, but merely attired in bra, panties and stockings in a 'Hamburg brothel': ah, but in which she does go on rant at her clients (one her former German lover!) against men incapable of giving love, instead expecting only sex. (In a brothel? Surely not!?) Why cut that? Perhaps it was to do with then current Finnish politics only just emerging from big neighbour Soviet influence 'Finlandisation', so that criticism of the the burgeoning embarkation into capitalist (prostituted!) consumerist system, could not be tolerated? Or just good ol' patriarchal repression, don't tell us blokes we are selfish sex only obsessed 'swines' .. (It incidentally almost exactly parallels the end scene to the much earlier Z grade film 'The Flesh Merchants' a.k.a.'The Wild and the Wicked'.)

So, transpiring to be a sort of pastiche cross of A. Jodorovsky (the colour palettes used) and a sort of Finnish worst ever director status Ed Wood, this beauty can only delight you for the unintentional hilarity á la the latter, in the unfolding of a colourful tale á la the former. E.g. the very opening scene if not a pastiche of Wood's infamous 'worst film ever', with a pilot wildly steering a plane rather like those back projected car driver's did in old black and white gangster films, is remarkably reminiscent of Wood's cockpit scene in 'Plan 9': what's similarly more, the actor playing this role (Mauritz Åckerman) delivers his German soldier, latterly sleazy nudist glamour photographer, character in presumably unintentional high camp style á la Wood's self referential 'Glen or Glenda'.

But the true revelation, beauty, is of course, main actress Mardi who goes on her odyssey from Lapland home, enticed down to sinful South capital, but throughout still with her seminal feminist head held high: particularly high as she has several love making encounters whence it is clearly inferred she is - most sensually (= Sensuela, see?) - getting her rocks off pleasure through whichever beau's oral stimulation: i.e. rarely shown in a publicly theatrical film of that time, cunnilingus, no less! Latterly she even has her current chap, literally, underfoot (those Finnish women are known for their assured confidence) after which canoodling begins, she even requests - nay demands? - to be 'on top', wherein Tulio the director then focuses lingeringly on her beautiful rotund face for quite some time as she goes through her passion. And such, ah, 'tasty'** practise is again shown (inferred) when in some of the antics portrayed in the orgy scene, one guy removes the blanket from a 69ing couple .. , but at the other end i.e. the lady's, ah, input, then, well, was that an earliest inference of analingus?! Wow. (** And bookended with the superb thowaway line from unveiling guy "Well, I suppose it's all matter of what's to your taste". Ho, ho!)

What's more, not only for its time, but even in the modern era, I challenge you to name a film in which a character, the said bad beau former German soldier, gets his come-uppance by - apparently traditional (as 'demonstrated' in the first half of the film) - Lappish reindeer 'neutering' style i.e. castration of the - even though pretend - bridegroom! Knocks spots (or is that, bollox?) off any latter day torture porn / Tarantino-like offering!

There are many other scenes / dialogue worthy to look out for - OK, here's another: check out how the national airline ('Finnair' - just incidentally over the intercom announcing every destination they then fly to - early product placement gambit, or what?) ) airliner is shown against the blue sky background: cut and paste worthy of child's grade - but this was already the '70's: as actually, an indication how this already several earlier productions made, director's fortunes had sadly waned: but still surely admirably, if by which unintentionally so amusing, in the passion to get it all up on screen, so that this effort can in no way be adjudged a good film; BUT it is undoubtedly an absolute gem of the art form to have and to hold / see.

N.B. *factual information gleaned from DVD extras, director 'Tulio' fan, Markku Varjola.

Calling this movie the worst in Finnish movie history is a serious misjudgment. Teuvo Tulio's final work was marred by financial troubles, but his story about an innocent Lapland girl turning prostitute is a feast of surreal plot, almost psychedelic colors and over-Brechtian amateur acting. There are some obvious cultural mistakes: for example, in the first scenes Laila, the Lapland girl, is actually wearing men's clothes. These mistakes, however, do not spoil the film as visually it is almost over-stylized.

Sometimes the movie has been called soft porn, but actually it conveys a direct feminist message and works as a critique of objectivation of women. At the same time Laila is shown as an active, not a passive, character. Tulio has also included some intertextual references to his earlier movies, creating a hybrid that constantly walks the line between art, irony and feminist commentary. It's a shame that lack of finances came in the way of Tulio's vision.

Being the very first Finnish movie I have seen, I can only make a statement on its own. It has a fantastic a plot meant to be sad, but instead making the viewer feel pleased and excited, presented in its own very unique looks, despite the ultra low budget that reach the peak of plain hilarious in certain scenes.

Gorgeus female actress shine over all the cast, one can feel she is the center of the movie from start to finish. She grows emotionally, although, some of the situations are a bit over-dramatic, she reacts as a human being would, taking what there is and going forward with her best, getting knocked down from time to time as we all do. Definitely a must watch for any drama fan.