Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared 1–4 (FI 2026). Top: Saga Sarkola as Maura. Below: Johannes Holopainen (Aaro), Pekka Strang (Erkka), Oona Airola (Linda).

L'Écho du silence / La noia desapareguda [Catalan title].

    FI © Reelmedia 2024. Year of Polar+/Canal+ release 2025. Year of Finnish release 2026. MTV original series. P: Pauliina Teirikari. EX: Johanna Enäsuo, Marko Röhr, Janne Vakio (MTV Finland), Marjukka Laurila (MTV Finland)

    D+SC+original story: Simo Halinen - based on the novel (2022) by Simo Halinen. Chat dialogue: Jemina Juuti. DP: Päivi Kettunen. Underwater cinematography: Teemu Liakka. Post: James Post. PD: Otto Lume. Cost: Anna Vilppunen. Makeup: Minna Pilvinen. VFX: Sami Haartemo. Graphic design: Tuukka Tujula, Sami Haartemo. M: Timo Hietala. S: Zacharias Kullman. ED: Joona Louhivuori. Casting: Vera Melleri.

    C: Saga Sarkola (Maura), Johannes Holopainen (Aaro), Pekka Strang (Erkka), Oona Airola (Linda), Senja Poikonen (Ronja).

    Tuomas Rinta-Panttila (Makkonen), Konsta Laakso (Otso), Leea Klemola (Aaro's mother), Linda Hämäläinen (Malla), Stefan Karlsson (theatre actor), Markus Ilkka Uolevi (theatre actor), Kimmo Rasila (theatre actor), Miska Kaukonen (therapist), Mika Kujala (psychologist), Mari Lehtonen (hospital ward manager), Kati Uhlgren (patient in rehabilitation), Janne Mattila (police officer), Jonne Karttula (police officer), Gabriela Rodriguez (police officer), Jukka Pietilä (cantor).

    The dog: Bono.

    Loc: Turku, Helsinki, Ruissalo, Raisio, Vepsä, Pohjankulma, Munstenpellonkatu, Ruoholahti.

    Four episodes of 41 min. Total duration 164 min

    Released by Polar+-/Canal+ in April 2025 in France and Poland.

    Released at MTV Katsomo+ streaming service 20 Aug 2026.

    Vimeo link viewed at home, 22 Aug 2026.

MTV Katsomo official promotion: "MTV's taut new series The Girl Who Disappeared weaves together a story about a crime from the past from three different viewpoints. Based on an eponymous novel by Simo Halinen, the four-part series stars Saga Sarkola, Johannes Holopainen, Oona Airola and Pekka Strang. The series has been written and directed by Simo Halinen."

"The Girl Who Disappeared is a thriller series about a sinister crime whose shadow fall upon four people. In the summer night, Aaro meets the sympathetic and enigmatic Maura with whom he falls in love, leading to a passionate relationship of a kind that Aaro had never even dared to dream about. Suddenly Maura disappears, and Aaro finds out that nothing Maura told about herself is true - did the woman even exist? As an insurance lawyer Aaro is able to track Maura down. It turns out that a crime in the past has left a permanent mark on Maura."

""The Girl Who Disappeared unfolds in a style of which I have always been very fond. It is not a straightforward thriller but a fabric growing denser from episode to episode, demanding attention from the viewer. It is driven by subtle performances. A long time I had wanted to work with Saga, Johannes, Pekka and Oona. The fact that I succeeded to engage them all made the shooting process in Turku exceptionally rewarding, which I hope is also reflected in the end result", Halinen says." (my translation)

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared (FI 2026). Episode 1: Katoaminen saarella / [Disappearance on an Island]. Saga Sarkola as Maura.

Jakso 1: Katoaminen saarella / [Disappearance on an Island].

    "Aaro meets Maura on a summer night in Helsinki. A relationship is ignited, and Maura tempts Aaro to a boat trip. During the trip, Maura's behaviour turns strange, and in the morning Aaro discover that Maura has disappeared."

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared (FI 2026). Episode 2: Isän tyttö / [Daddy's Girl]. Oona Airola as Linda. Pekka Strang as Erkka.

Jakso 2: Isän tyttö / [Daddy's Girl]

    "Erkka receives a message insisting him to leave Linda and Ronja (Senja Poikonen) alone. He learns from Linda that Ronja's real mother is Maura. Erkka has a premonition and demands an explanation. Is he Ronja's father?"

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared (FI 2026). Episode 3: Kuka on Erik Halme? / [Who Is Erik Halme?]. Pekka Strang as Erkka. 

Jakso 3: Kuka on Erik Halme? / [Who Is Erik Halme?]

    "Erkka threatens to tell Linda that he is Ronja's father. Maura remembers the events of the past differently and accuses Erkka of rape. Finally Maura realizes that the only one who can help her is Aaro."

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi / The Girl Who Disappeared (FI 2026). Episode 4: Mauran demonit / [Maura's Demons]. Johannes Holopainen as Aaro.

Jakso 4: Mauran demonit / [Maura's Demons]

    "Maura receives a phone call from Ronja who seems frightened. Erkka has moved in with them, and Ronja feels uncomfortable about Erkka. Maura realizes that Ronja is in danger. She must save her." (Synopsis translations by me).

AA: Simo Halinen's The Girl Who Disappeared is a haunting contemporary crime series about a dangerous love affair between Aaro (Johannes Holopainen), an insurance lawyer, and Maura (Saga Sarkola), a mystery woman. Their paths cross in summertime Helsinki, and a passionate relationship emerges. 

A shared background in dysfunctional families may be an unconscious denominator which brings them together. Much is unresolved and unexplored in their lives. Both are awkward in relationships. Theirs is not a casual affair.

When Maura disappears and Aaro starts making inquiries, the authorities merely state that Aaro has been dumped. But Aaro senses that this would be out of character. He is not naive, but he is deeply disturbed when he discovers that nothing Maura had told him was true. Nothing, that is, of the external facts, starting with a real name and occupation. But the passion was real and all-important.

Gradually Aaro begins to discover the shocking truth about Maura. Her life has been broken by sexual abuse and blackmail as a teenager, and she has become a teenage mother, her daughter Ronja officially adopted by her big sister Linda. Maura's personality has been severely disturbed, and she entertains suicidal thoughts. In the final settling of accounts with the predator, bloody murder cannot be avoided.

The Girl Who Disappeared is a moody thriller about broken lives. The voice of life-affirmation is quiet but irrepressible. The silent resolve of Johannes Holopainen as Aaro is convincing. Saga Sarkola conveys the psychological complexity of Maura memorably.

The novel on which the tv series is based has two first person narrators: M (man) and N (nainen = woman). The tv series is not a double narrative, but it is non-linear and follows separate stories in jumbled timelines.

The Girl Who Disappeared, a psychological thriller, is character-driven, and the cast is great. Saga Sarkola (Maura), Johannes Holopainen (Aaro), Pekka Strang (Erkka) and Oona Airola (Linda) carry the main roles. The story is also landscape-driven. Essential locations are found in summertime nature. Water and the sea offer powerful imagery.

The Girl Who Disappeared belongs to films with Vertigo affinities. These include some imagery and some main themes such as woman as an illusion and a history of sexual abuse. Unlike Hitchcock, Simo Halonen does not pursue the transcendental and the metaphysical. His story is firmly set in reality. The issues are commitments to responsibility, unflinching even in matters with awful consequences such as rape, teenage pregnancy and murder.

I have always followed Simo Halinen with interest, including the most recent movies Kerron sinulle kaiken / Open Up to Me (2013, its lead actress Leea Klemola striking also in The Girl Who Disappeared) and Kääntöpiste / East of Sweden (2018). I was converted by his first feature films Minerva (1997, which I included in my annual list of favourite films) and Cyclomania (2001, one of my favourite Helsinki movies), and even before them I had registered his student works such as Variksenpelätti ([Scarecrow], 1989).

The Girl Who Disappeared is a new experiment in non-linear narration. As in William Faulkner's Requiem for a Nun, "The past is never dead. It's not even past". We keep returning to key situations from new angles and added pieces of information which change the meaning of what we thought we knew, but: "How little we know", as Lauren Bacall sang in To Have and Have Not. 

Complexity is difficult to convey. Since this is a suspense thriller, I would have welcomed more intensity.

Simo Halinen: Nainen joka katosi (2022). Novel published by CrimeTime / Docendo / WSOY. Hard cover. 208 pages. Suomen dekkariseuran Vuoden esikoisdekkari -palkinto / Annual award for the best debut in the detective novel, in February 2023. Book cover design: Jussi Karjalainen.