The Wait

I have to admit, I've seen little Finnish cinema in the past; a lot more Swedish and Norwegian. But The Wait is undoubtedly worth the wait (Pardon the pun.). It's a slow - burning drama from director Aku Louhimies, who is apparently quite experienced and who co - wrote this movie along with lead actress Inka Kallén, adapting it from a very well known nineteenth century Finnish novel.

The Wait is not a great movie, but it is a very interesting one for anyone like me, who is keen on seeing more Finnish product. For a start, the summer coastal scenery is just stunning, with the whole movie being set on an unnamed, underpopulated island off the coast, accessible by ferry. Elli (Kallen) lives there along with her preacher husband Mikko. The congregation of his decidedly progressive church as a whole seem to be mostly made up of thirty somethings (unrealistically I'd suggest), bent on having a good time while on their island paradise. Elli and Mikko seem to have a very satisfying marriage, which somewhat predictably suffers some tremors, with the arrival of Phd student Olavi, an old bestie of Mikko's. But seemingly unknown to Mikko, also an old flame of Elli's, who in the past dumped her; an act we find out, she never quite got over.

It's kind of amusing reading other reviews here, which complain, The Wait has no story. Indeed it has a very clear story, but one that isn't filled with reams of dialogue and exposition. Elli initially appears to be a traditional house wife, content to carry out domestic duties such as cooking, cleaning and supporting her husband further with her presence at church, even though we sense she doesn't hold anywhere near as strong religious beliefs. We gradually learn however she is a fiercely independent woman in her own right, who has in the past trod her own definite path in life and who intends to keep doing so in the future. It becomes clear there will be some sort of reckoning between her and Olavi and the suspense comes in attempting to determine how this relationship will impact her marriage.

Inka Kallen in the central role carries the picture on her shoulders and does an excellent job, considering as I mentioned, she doesn't have the large amount of dialogue, that one might expect in a film of this nature. But she is marvellously expressive at communicating her inner self and feelings with her body language and facial impressions. The supporting cast are all very competent.

Without spoiling, I'd like to say, that I appreciated the conclusion in The Wait. It teases moments of melodrama, but deftly avoids tipping over the edge into a morass of standard outcomes. The ending is very satisfying and quite realistic in the context of what has preceded it in this very worthwhile film.

3 stars: 1. Hirviniemi is able to throw some good lines and able to squeeze something out of his character. 2. Some really nice shooting and scenery. 3. After movie you can talk with your friend how lame the movies actually was.

The movie offers very very little. I had no foggiest idea what this piece was actually all about. Perhaps the idea was that people just want to invoke some drama when there's a change.

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...

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.

So in modern day diverse dialog if a man does this to his wife, he is going to be called many unpleasant names.. But, If a woman does this, well, a girl needs what she needs. More power to her. You go girl you go!

See the double standard here?

And I really tried to find a fault in her husband but couldn't really.

So, what are we advocating here in the name of women empowerment and other slogans we hear nowadays? Classic marriage is so ancient? Being faithful to your spouse is so passé ? Let's drop all people and their culture in blender and make a new mix of brave new generation?

I can only hope that some of crazy trends and ideas we're witnessing today eventually simmers down and fade away, like 70's hippies and the like .