For a certain generation of Finns, especially the Swedish-speaking ones, Stormskerry Maja evokes the image of the TV miniseries directed by Åke Lindman and broadcast in 1976. For the current one, it’s more likely to be associated with Tiina Lymi’s epic film adaptation, which has already topped box office charts domestically ahead of international festival bows in Rotterdam and Gothenburg, with more undoubtedly to come.
Based on Anni Blomqvist’s five-book series published between 1968 and 1973, the film takes place in the Åland archipelago in the 1800s. Situated in the Baltic sea, it’s an autonomous region of Finland, and the only monolingual Swedish-language area of the country. The mainland is where Maja (Amanda Jansson) lives with her parents, before relocating to the more remote island of Stormskerry as a result of her arranged marriage with Janne (Linus Troedsson).
She is initially opposed to the idea, partly because she’s an independent-minded young woman, and partly because Janne was not her favorite among potential suitors. But as the couple settles on the island, she warms to her new rural surroundings, and to Janne: they discover a mutual fondness that is expressed primarily through their almost daily routine of jumping into the sea buck naked. They can barely keep their hands off each other, with multiple children to prove it. But life on Stormskerry is far from idyllic, especially when war comes to Åland and overlaps with a particularly harsh winter.
Shot on location in Åland (with some interiors filmed in Helsinki and Turku), the film takes the book series’ basic premise and turns it into a veritable epic about love and nature, a modern adaptation about womanhood in a male-dominated system that nonetheless embraces ancient traditions, be it in terms of filmmaking craft with awe-inducing vistas captured by cinematographer Rauno Ronkainen or through the characterization of Maja herself, who is forward-thinking and bound to age-old superstitions at the same time.
The storms are physical and emotional, as the script expands on the novels’ minimal character development and turns a familiar trope on its head by showing two people who, against all odds given the context, come to genuinely love each other. Passionately embodied by two up-and-coming Swedish actors, Amanda Jansson and Linus Troedsson (whose profiles are sure to be raised by the film’s critical and commercial success in the Nordics), the lovers are the core ingredient in a sea of feelings that sweep over the story’s environment and the film itself for close to three hours.
With a reported budget of 4.2 million euros, more than double the average for a Finnish project, this is also the most ambitious and expensive film ever made as a Finland-Swedish co-project, an epic for the speakers of Finland’s second official language. Every cent is visible on the screen, creating a blend of intimate and grandiose that showcases the natural beauty of the Baltic archipelagoes and highlights the personal stakes of this piece of historical fiction, where history is viewed more as a hindrance rather than a spectacular backdrop.
From the roughly 1,300 pages that comprise Blomqvist’s literary saga, Lymi has extracted a love story for the ages, whose appeal should transcend national borders (if the audience reactions at the Rotterdam screenings are any indication). At once achingly tender, cleverly modern and boldly old-fashioned, it’s as much of an unstoppable force as the inclement weather that sweeps through the scenes.
Director, screenwriter: Tiina Lymi
Cast: Amanda Jansson, Linus Troedsson, Jonna Järnefelt, Tobias Zilliacus, Desmond Eastwood, Tony Doyle
Producers: Jukka Helle, Markus Selin, Hanna Virolainen
Cinematography: Rauno Ronkainen
Editing: Joona Louhivuori
Production design: Otso Linnalaakso
Costume design: Auli Turtiainen-Kinnunen
Music: Lauri Porra
Production Companies: Solar Films
World Sales: Picture Tree International
Venue: International Film Festival Rotterdam (Limelight section)
In Swedish, English
164 minutes
