Previously at the ICA - Seasons

The Song of the Scarlet Flower, Dir. Teuvo Tulio, 1938

Teuvo Tulio's Lost Masterpieces

16 Dec 201122 Dec 2011

Celebrated as a national treasure in his homeland, the films of Finnish director Teuvo Tulio are tragically unseen and unknown in the UK, but thanks to the release by the National Audiovisual Archive in Finland of four of his seminal works in the Europe’s Finest classics catalogue, we can at last discover this major world class talent.

Specialising in the much maligned genre of melodrama, heavily influenced by George Cukor, Ernst Lubitsch and Josef von Sternberg, these spectacular depictions of suffering and sex cast a long shadow over directors like Aki Kaurismäki and Guy Maddin, to name but two. Expressionistic montages, fast-cutting, an obsession with kittens and sailors, searing close-ups of wild eyed women desperate to escape the social constraints and taboos of their time: this is a cinema of high romance and impassioned yearning.

The films shown here divide neatly into his earlier bucolic visions of lusty Finns cavorting in the haystacks of a pre-war Europe and the later 'social issue' films exploring a series of women forced by poverty to leave the safety of the countryside for the treacherous temptations of employment in the city.

It's the fate of his female characters that drives Tulio. His camera, like von Sternberg's, adores his leading ladies. His films blend a swooning romanticism with an unsettling darkness as he repeatedly shows how society strips these women of their glamour and dignity, pushing them into madness, prostitution and poverty.

Tulio's fetishistic visions of poverty and vice are at once thrilling and poetic. As Finnish scholar Anu Koivunen explains, 'Tulio was both an idealist and a producer of cheap films,' which are at once cries for justice and hugely entertaining epics.

As part of this season we're also delighted to be screening The Women by Tulio's idol George Cukor. We're also showing a pair of contemporary masterpieces, Aki Kaurismäki's The Man Without A Past and Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World, both of which bear witness to the lasting influence of Tulio's, until now, lost masterpieces.

  • The Man Without A Past, Aki Kaurismäki, 2003

    The Man Without a Past

    16 Dec 201121 Dec 2011

    In this tale, a man who loses his memory after a vicious attack, the Finnish filmmaker strikes a perfect balance of mockery, absurd touches and tenderness.

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  • The Song of the Scarlet Flower, Dir. Teuvo Tulio, 1938

    The Song of the Scarlet Flower

    16 Dec 201121 Dec 2011

    Based on the book by Johannes Linnankoski, the film follows an arrogant young man playing fast and loose with the affections of a number of young women.

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  • The Women

    16 Dec 201122 Dec 2011

    A study of the intertwining romantic lives and relationships between a group of very different women.

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  • In the Field of Dreams, Dir: Teuvo Tulio, 1940

    In the Field of Dreams

    16 Dec 201121 Dec 2011

    Tulio's work creates a magnificent portrait of the end of innocence and the growing sexuality of developing adolescents.

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  • The Saddest Music in the World

    17 Dec 201122 Dec 2011

    Set in Winnipeg during the Great Depression, the powerful Lady Port-Huntly announces a contest to find the saddest music in the world.

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  • The Way You Wanted Me, Dir. Teuvo Tulio, 1944

    The Way You Wanted Me

    17 Dec 201122 Dec 2011

    Set in the background of World War II, the film narrates the loss virtue of a young woman who moves from a rural home to the crued reality of living in the city.

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  • The Cross of Love, Dir. Teuvo Tulio Tulio, 1946,

    The Cross of Love

    17 Dec 201122 Dec 2011

    A lighthouse keeper’s daughter is seduced by a stranger washed up on their shore. Soon she’s left home for the city with little idea of the hardships that await her.

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When

E.g., 02-08-2021
E.g., 02-08-2021