“Girl Picture” (2022) is a Finnish film—literal translation of the title is “Girls, Girls, Girls,” which in the US has a prurient connotation. The plot revolves around three teenage girls. Ronkko (Eleonoora Kauhanen who resembles a curly haired Julia Stiles) and anti-social Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff), who has sympathetic reasons for her antagonistic outbursts, are best friends. Mimmi falls for Emma (Linnea Leino), a driven ice skater with championship ambitions, after choking under the pressure. Ronkko has less luck in love and would be satisfied if she could get an orgasm.
“Girl Picture” was highly recommended and considered for the top ten films of 2022. I love foreign films and was excited to see another Finnish movie in the same year as “Compartment Number 6” (2021). The director is a woman. I am slightly more invested in stories with girls and women protagonists. Unfortunately the film began to lose me in the first two minutes, and it became apparent that this film was not for me under the best of circumstances. I would have steered clear of these girls when I was a kid. I was never invested in romantic relationships. I hate partying and sports.
How did “Girl Picture” lose me? If any black Finnish women read this review, please give me some feedback. Did this film feel a tad misogynoir to you because as an outsider, my alarm bells were going off? I cannot imagine that Finland has a lot of black people so I was surprised that they appeared early in the film, and they were all sports obsessed and aggravating the main characters. My formative years were spent with the television news reporting Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder saying that black people are ‘bred’ for sports so maybe I am just on high alert. I probably would have dismissed it and chalked it up to, “Hurrah representation, everyone gets to be a jerk in this film,” but Mimmi pulls a Tonya Harding with a classmate, and the teacher does not intervene. It is the systematic approval of physical abuse with no consequences for me. Note I was still invested in Mimmi’s story, and it worked in her favor that she was an ardent sports atheist until she got a date out of it (not a true believer).
Though inaccurate, the closest and most favorable American movie analogy I can make is to “Booksmart” (2019) except if the bathroom scene came earlier, the girls were less perfect, and we got to know Amy’s love interest and the pair were less articulate and educated. It is way better than “Kids” (1995) which only casts teen sexuality in a negative light with AIDS as the boogeyman and girls as objects and victims. There is a lot of sex, not sexual violence. Sex is not dangerous in “Girl Picture.” There is no nudity so it does not feel as if the director was being gratuitous or making kiddie porn.
The story takes place over the course of three Fridays to get to know their real lives outside of school. Because I am from the US and unfamiliar with the Finnish school system, I was uncertain how old the characters were because Mimmi appeared to live alone, and Ronkko’s parents never appear on screen or are referenced. Emma’s close relationship with her parents is unusual. Eagle-eyed viewers will see Emma’s father in the margins, but he never utters a word during the kitchen scene. They appear to be high school age, but it is important for one storyline which implies that a parent is neglecting her child. If it is customary for parents not to be involved in their children’s lives at that age, while I agreed that the parent was wrong, it tempered the situation a bit.
Despite all these factors, I am glad that I watched the entire movie because if “Girl Picture” just focused on Mimmi’s story, I would have loved the film, but the rest felt too coming of age cliché for me. Mimmi connects both characters, but it is not until the denouement when all three are together. It is an asymmetrical movie because of the best friends’ differing love lives. After the credits rolled, I did not have that lingering feeling of wanting to make sure that the characters were OK except for Mimmi. I did not even remember where everyone landed after the denouement. There is a post credits scene, which will elicit joy to those who adore the friendship. The love story was credible, and even people with a low tolerance for teenage angst will get invested over Mimmi and Emma’s love story.
Milonoff is a solid actor and the backbone of “Girl Picture.” Her face alternates from dispassionate, mocking, contrite, mature to childlike. She takes her character’s interior dialogue and projects it on her face. She starts with this wall and as we gain insight into her character’s history, her attempt at selflessness comes at the price of her need for love. When that wall finally breaks down, this defiant teen and sensual person who keeps pushing people away for the greater good transforms back into a child. Milonoff makes us believe that she is so hard on herself when she just loves everyone more than herself, especially her little brother and Emma. Shout out to the uncredited actor playing Salo, the mall cop, who handles that scene with the right amount of professionalism and concern. I want a series about her life at work!
“Girl Picture” may leave viewers wondering if American culture has infected Finnish teen culture or if capitalist culture has infected teen culture in the US and Finland. The mall/consumer culture with its cheesy names permeates the story in unexpected ways. The ability to consume becomes a rite of passage, but the stupid names boomerang them back to childhood.
I saw “Girl Picture” soon after “She Said” (2022), and both films depict carefree youthfulness as nights filled with dynamic movement and exuberance. The lighting during these scenes transmogrifies parking lots and dance floors to a bit of heaven on earth with no shame in existing. Mental health is a theme for each girl. Mimmi has a prescription for something. Emma is having a crisis, possibly anxiety. These places become realms of freedom, post-fall Edens, which briefly set them free from the prison of self-condemnation in their head. The scenes without dialogue are the best only rivaled by the scenes about betrayal where the surrounding people are missing the personal subtext in an ordinary exchange.
If you are still watching movies with teen protagonists and looking for a queer romance where no one dies, then check out “Girl Picture,” but there are subtitles. It improves with repeat viewings, but it is just not my taste.