Täydellinen joulu

FI 2019. PC: Bronson Club Oy. P: Jesse Fryckman. EX: Max Seeck.
    D: Taru Mäkelä. SC adaptation: Kris Gummerus – based on the film Tomten är far till alla barnen / Joulupukki vieraissa / In Bed with Santa (SE 1999, D: Kjell Sundvall, SC: Monica Rolfner) – original screenplay by Monica Rolfner, Eva Callenbo and Harald Hamrell. DP: Juice Huhtala. AD: Tiina Paavilainen. Cost: Sanja Kangas. Makeup: Anne Airaksinen. M: Joel Melasniemi. S: Jyrki Rahkonen. ED: Antti Tuomikoski.
    C: Elena Leeve (Outi), Antti Luusuaniemi (Janne), Mikko Leppilampi (Paavo), Maria Ylipää (Riitta), Aku Hirviniemi (Oskari), Lotta Lindroos (Eeva), Iikka Forss (Eki), Saara Kotkaniemi (Paula), Pirkko Mannola (Kyllikki), Pihla Maalismaa (Marika), Kari Ketonen (Matias), Krisse Salminen (Helena), Saimi Kahri (Janette), Eeti Salovuori (Riku), Annikki Hirviniemi (Liisa-Lotta), Sara Pehrsson (Johanna), Matilda Pirttikangas (Elina), Oscar Kalenius (Taneli), Wanda Dubiel (Karin), Leon Johannes Mingas (Junior), Alen Nsambu (Nelson).
    94 min.
    Premiere: 25 Oct 2019 – distributed by SF Studios.
    Vimeo link viewed for Jussi Awards, on a 4K tv screen at home, 11 March 2020.

Official introduction: "The new comedy Täydellinen joulu by the director of the successful Varasto (The Storage) movies is a tale of the all time extended family Christmas. It is a comedy about ex-partners, new partners, relationships, families, traditions and breaking traditions."

"A Christmas to remember awaits when the gentle powerhouse Outi (Elena Leeve) decides to celebrate by inviting all her three ex-husbands, their mutual children and the men's new companions with their new children. Although Outi's current husband Janne (Antti Luusuaniemi) rejects the plan outright, this year's Christmas table overflows with new, old and freshly exposed family knots".

"The schnapps drinks, the rosolli salads and other Christmas traditions are turned upside down when the guests set out to remember times shared with the lady of the evening. A high point is a speech given by Outi in which she declares that she is about to give Janne the greatest of gifts: she is pregnant. Janne's reaction is not exactly what one might have expected, and there is a further twist which needs to be processed with many others, even involving the Santa Claus next door." (Official introduction, my translation).

AA: The title Täydellinen joulu [The Perfect Christmas] is of course ironic. On display is a human catastrophe.

Taru Mäkelä is an experienced director of both distinguished documentaries (David, the saga of Finnish Jews in WWII) and hit comedies. It's rare to possess a talent in both.

Technically, The Perfect Christmas is perfect: a well-made screenplay (from a Swedish hit original), a wonderful cast and a proper rhythm for the artificial approach necessary in a comedy like this. A tempo fast enough to forget thinking.

The history of film comedy started with catastrophe comedies in which the room – the house – the community – the world perished utterly. There is some external catastrophe here, too, but what really gets destroyed is the family spirit, supposedly the main value in celebrating Christmas.

It is impossible to tell how intentional Outi's action is when she invites, without telling her husband, all her ex-husbands with their families to celebrate Christmas together – and when she in her Christmas speech makes the surprise announcement that she is pregnant. It is a very special surprise for the husband, because everybody except Outi knows that he has sterilized himself.

This is an externally bright and internally horrific story: there is no love in the relationships. Remarkably, the children see this, and they condemn their parents and everything they stand for.

The Perfect Christmas provides fresh evidence for a deep trend in Finnish culture: matriarchy. Ostensibly Finland is a patriarchy, in reality, often a matriarchy. There are two families living as neighbours. In both the husband is evicted by Queen Bee.

The movie also provides contributions to the theme of the harridan in Finnish cinema. The cinematic harridan has been with us since the early days (e.g. in Aleksis Kivi and Juha adaptations) but there has been a special revival in the new millennium. The revival may be unintentional and even unconscious, but probably not in this movie.