The Wait

Good movie, but not recommended to watch if you don't have enough taste.

By the way if you watch the movie in quarter speed, two unicorns pop out from the screen and one of them whispers the meaning of life into your one ear while other licks the other one!

And legend says that if you watch it with 2x speed in reverse then a square mustache appears under your nose and your hand raises in front of you and in the mean time, you become the ultimate cultural authority to decide what to understand when observe an art piece! And the ability of using hyphens anytime, anywhere and anysense would be a bonus!

Watch in peace.

Having seen this film on the coincidental same day as the lead actress' Inka Kallen's birthday, 30.09.2024, (when it was broadcast nationally in Australia on SBS World Movies channel), I consider it my pleasure to have this opportunity to supply a review hopefully drafted to counter the examples of bitter kneejerk detritus being offered as though representations in some way of actual and worthy summations of this film, which indeed, they are not!

The very fact that The Wait has roused within some self styled reviewers such viscerally angry responses explains volumes about the film's actual subtext and stands as a reflection of the evocative power this portrayal of complex human relationships exhibits.

What to the undiscerning may appear superficially as a simple story displaying the abjectly gratuitous, is very much more than that, despite thse aspects being explicitly suggested, their purpose is not to merely to excite and titilate the jaded, but to reflect the catharsis undergone within the emotional states of the beings here depicted.

Through recognition and application of the consideration the title requests of its audience, its narrative may be permitted to unfold, as it is a story requiring meditation upon the otherwise hidden motivations for each of these characters actions to reveal precisely what the title suggests this film about-that pause required to actually have an understanding of ourselves and others.

In essence, one character has been waiting for a love denied and dferred, but has decided to try to forget and instead accept being loved in expectation that if they wait then their own love will reciprocate this.

One is prepared to wait, despite the other not loving them as they do, upon the higher power of Love to fulfill what is lacking in their self, in others and in the one they love.

The other has acted without waiting, expecting the immediate fulfillment and reciprocation of a love they refused and that they are left to realise they have lost by neglecting and which they may now wait the rest of their life to find revealed... if ever.

There is vastly more to this film than I may attempt to explain only a few short hours after watching.

The Wait is a description of the conflict which comes when the residues of past decisions are forced by circumstance into confrontation with one another and what they are transformed into by that confrontation. It is a treatise on what it truly means to love.

Love, neglect, faithfulness, desire, penitance, revenge and forgiveness, these subjects are rarely confronted in modern film with the type of deeply contemplative rendering which The Wait displays in its narrative.

Like the sea, forest and sky so effortlessly depicted and accompanying this story with the presnce of a fourth lead player, what brews deep beneath and inside these elements has been hidden from us by The Wait, unless we choose to explore and hunt, seeking to find what lies within.

If you choose to, then you will find it worth the wait.

I found the caracteristics very shallow except for Mikko (the priest), who did quite a good job except for his language. I don't think any priest would use curse words like he did.

The woman seemed to be just a sex addict. I didn't find any deeper interaction between the caracters, just addictive sex.

I liked the relaxed dialogues, Aku Hirviniemi was excellent.

There was not really a proper story or anything deeper. The movie had lots of glanses given between the wife and the guest and even though I normally love just slow camera scenes, in this one it didn't work.

Yet I give 5 stars since I loved the surroundings, the building, the dialogs and Aku Hirviniemi.

The wife and the guest on the contrary weren't credible at all...

... the film 'The Wait' is bold in its controversial depiction of a brief affair between a rural pastor's spouse, and a past lover with whom she had many years ago been intensely-involved (still is) ... Inka Kallen co-authoring a screenplay of merit but surely to be upsetting for many who regard the wife's actions as exceptionally-deplorable abusively-cruel-controlling, and her husband's blind-simpleminded... (yet very intuitive... were he have to gone-in-fists-flailing in that highly dramatic scene , it would've cost him her... playing-longer-game.. yet keeping YKW in back of pickup just-in-case)

... very well produced and acted, it should remain one of the classic examples of the cheating-wife-genre, along with many other much more well-known-established films... its slow-pacing and lack of more extensive dialogue may be off-putting for some, but all-in-all it is an exceptional work... every detail matters, saying more than just being part of scenery or props... ocean-swims... wardrobe... doorways... music/sounds... lighting (or lack thereof)... oversized-rock on-her-finger (highlighted so many scenes, s/b listed in the credits)... et al

... everyone only watching this film once misses opportunity of realizing its full weight-meaning-innuendos... and should you choose viewing it again, be sure to do it half-speed... double-time-viewing, yet many more times an experience

... Elli, Makko, Olavi, Liina too... these are all great characters, would have loved seeing them in a series-long-production (mini or longer) where their depth could be more explored... Odotus just a 101 minute introduction to their complicated-histories-personalities-lives... having been introduced, now leaving us all 'waiting' wanting for more.

A beautiful movie about love, the passage of time and desire.

The photography and direction are GORGEOUS! The beautiful location is amazing, coupled with the contemplative summer shots of the characters enjoying nature.

The movie is also very human in depicting the main character in all her flaws and strenghts, both trying to make her life happen even if it's not exactly what she wanted and dealing with strong desire, like any human could.

It also shows that the power of true love also lies in forgiveness, accepting and talking; and that something can come to make things better from where we least expect it!

It's a discussion of relationships with others, yourself and female empowerment. Very good for anyone not afraid to think.