Livet efter döden

 

Klaus Härö: Livet efter döden (2020). Peik Stenberg is Nisse, the Grump of this movie. "Not a moment of peace until everything is over".

 

Elämää kuoleman jälkeen
    FI © 2020 Citizen Jane Productions Oy. P: Leila Lyytikäinen, Elina Pohjola.
    D+SC: Klaus Härö. Cin: Robert Nordström. PD: Markus Packalén. Cost: Riitta Peteri. Makeup: Pia Mikkonen. M: Matti Bye. S: Micke Nyström. ED: Thomas Täng. Casting: Minna Sorvoja.
    C: Peik Stenberg (Nisse), Martin Paul (Stefan), Lena Labart (Elsa), Sara Arnia (Brita), Jonas Bergqvist (priest), Kent Sjöman (undertaker), Stan Saanila (cemetery caretaker).
    Language: Swedish.
    81 min
    Finnish premiere: 6 March 2020, released by Oy Nordisk Film Ab with Finnish subtitles (n.c.).
    Viewed at Tennispalatsi 9, Helsinki, 22 Aug 2020.
    [Direct translation of the title: Life After Death].

AA: The premiere of Livet efter döden, Klaus Härö's newest film, overlapped with Tampere Short Film Festival, and just when I was ready to view it, the corona state of emergency started and cinemas closed. Luckily, the film is still in the repertory.

It is a strong and moving entry in Klaus Härö's oeuvre. The story is simple, and there are marked affinities with another recent Finnish film, Tiina Lymi's Ilosia aikoja, mielensäpahoittaja / Happier Times, Grump, but that does not matter. I have a special interest in stories about legacy, inheritance, and patrimony. The stories have always something in common, but what interests me is the difference.

I'm interested in the viewpoint of Solon when Croesus asked him who is the happiest of all, expecting the answer to be: Croesus himself. Solon said that it is too early to say. Only when Solon would learn that Croesus had happily come to the end of his days he would be able to judge.

This approach may seem a digression, but I'm thinking from the viewpoint of the film's absent protagonist: Leila, the wife of Nisse (Peik Stenberg), the Grump of this movie. She was also the mother of Stefan (Martin Paul), the sister-in-law of Elsa (Lena Labart) and the daughter of Brita (Sara Arnia).

When the film starts, Nisse has had already many years to process his sorrow about his wife's long and fatal illness. He visited her every day at the hospital. He would like to keep the funeral quiet. But Leila has been much loved by everybody, and Nisse's house gets filled with flowers and cards of condolences. 

What remains is what people remember. Leila's legacy is love, remembered by all who knew her, and this Nisse tries to ignore, until he cannot. Meanwhile, he sidetracks his attention to building endless birdhouses. He shouts and barks and offends everybody, including his son and sister who are volunteering to help. He even starts to call all the funeral guests whom Leila's mother has invited to cancel the invitations. But he cries over the little birds' eggs broken by a squirrel in a birdhouse.

Among the film's themes is photography. Photographs change when the person dies. Both Nisse and Stefan are talented photographers. It is hard for them to decide on the definitive memorial photograph. There are technically brilliant ones. The characteristic look of love is in the photograph where Leila holds the baby Stefan in her arms, but technically it's not the best.

The plot is simple, but Klaus Härö elicits a full and rich sonority in playing this drama about the greatest themes common to all.