''Mother of Mine'' ( fi, Äideistä parhain, sv, Den bästa av mödrar) is a 2005 Finnish drama film directed by

Klaus Härö Klaus Härö (born 31 March 1971 in Porvoo, Finland) is a Finnish film director. In 2004, he won Finland's State Prize for Art. Härö grew up in a Swedish-speaking Finnish family. He studied directing and attended screen writing seminars at the ...

. The film is based on a novel by

Heikki Hietamies Heikki is a Finnish and Estonian male given name. It derives from a medieval vernacular form of the name Henrik. Notable people with the name include: * Heikki Aho (footballer) (born 1983), Finnish footballer * Heikki A. Alikoski (1912–1997), ...

. It received good reviews from the Finnish press, and was selected to be Finland's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the

78th Academy Awards The 78th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

2005 Toronto International Film Festival The 30th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 8–17 and screened 335 films from 52 countries - 109 of these films were world premieres, and 78 were North American premieres. Awards At the Festival's closing event, the following ...

, where it finished fifth in the audience balloting.

Plot

The story is a discussion between Eero and his biological mother (Kirsti), where they are talking to each other and clarifying their misunderstanding and difference in present time. Eero has just come back from his visit from Sweden for Signe's (Swedish mother) funeral. The plot of the story is based on the time of the Second World War and the main character of the story is a Finnish boy (Eero Lahti). The biological father of Eero (Kari-Pekka Toivonen) is in the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( Finnish: ''Maavoimat'', Swedish: ''Armén'') is the land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: the infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraf ...

. He dies in the front and Eero's mother Kirsti falls into deep depression. As the war gets worse, Eero is sent to Sweden to a new Swedish family. In the new family, he has a father Hjalmar Jönsson, mother Signe Jönsson and a grandfather (who cannot speak but hears everything). He also meets the neighbor’s daughter Siv. Despite Hjalmar being very welcoming, Eero is not willing to stay in Sweden and wants to go back to his biological mother. Signe is frustrated in Eero's unwillingness to adjust to the situation. She is also frustrated in the language barrier and the fact that she wanted to have a small girl instead of Eero. There is a reason why she wished to have a girl; it is later revealed that she had lost her six-year-old daughter Elin two years earlier in a drowning accident. In the struggle of the change Signe wants the boy to learn Swedish. After a long struggle to adjust, slowly Signe starts to attach to the boy and she starts loving him. And getting attention, care and affection, the boy starts attaching too, and that leads to their having a tight mother-son relationship. Years later, Finland withdraws from the war and World War II eventually ends. The children taken to Sweden safe from the war are now being returned to their homes in Finland. The situation in Finland (Helsinki) gets better, and that means Eero has to return to his biological mother and leave the Jönsson family in Sweden. The bond between his Swedish family has by then grown so much stronger that he is unwilling to go back to Helsinki. But despite of his wishes and Signe's resistance, Eero is sent back to Finland to his mother Kirsti. Later, in a scene where Eero and his mother are older, Eero tells his mother that back then, it was impossible to ever have the same relationship with his biological mother that they used to. As a child, he was certain that once he lets someone come close to him, he is in risk of losing everything again. Eero was afraid that his mother will leave him again if things get worse. The adult Eero even tells his mother, that when he came back from Skåne, Kirsti (his biological mother) wasn't a mother to him anymore.

Cast

* Topi Majaniemi Eero Lahti * Esko Salminen Eero Lahti (present day) * Marjaana Maijala Kirsi Lahti, mother of Eero *

Aino-Maija Tikkanen Aino-Maija Tikkanen (2 November 1927 – 3 March 2014) was a Finnish film actress. She appeared in 15 films between 1954 and 2010 and had a long career at theatre. She died on 3 March 2014 at the age of 86. Selected filmography * ''Evakko'' (1 ...

Kirsi Lahti (present day) *

Maria Lundqvist Annika Maria Lundqvist (born 14 October 1963) is a Swedish actress and comedian. Born in Gothenburg, Lundqvist studied acting at the Gothenburg Theatre Academy and has since been acting at various Swedish theatres, including the Royal Dramatic ...

Signe Jönsson, Eero's mother in Sweden *

Michael Nyqvist Rolf Åke Mikael Nyqvist (; 8 November 1960 – 27 June 2017) was a Swedish actor. Educated at the School of Drama in Malmö, he became well known for playing police officer Banck in the 1997–1998 Martin Beck TV series and for his leading ro ...

Hjalmar Jönsson, Eero's father in Sweden

Selected awards

At Finland's principal annual film awards, the " Jussis", ''Mother of Mine'' received nominations in six categories and won three awards: *Best Actress –

*Best Cinematography – Jarkko T. Laine *Best Set Design – Cian Bornebusch At Sweden's official annual film awards, the Guldbagge Awards, ''Mother of Mine'' received two nominations,

for Best Actress in a leading role (who won), and Michael Nyqvist for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (who lost). The film won several Retrieved 30 August 2009. other awards: * Golden Pyramid Award at the

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival ( ar, مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year si ...

* Lübeck Nordic Film Days *

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the annual Satellite Awards given by the International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, represe ...

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

* Viareggio EuropaCinema Maria Lundqvist won awards at *São Paulo International Film Festival *

Jussi Awards The Jussi Awards are Finland's premier film industry prizes, awarded annually to recognize the achievements of directors, actors, and writers. History The first Jussi Awards ceremony was held on 16 November 1944 at the Restaurant Adlon in Hels ...

* Guldbagge Awards *

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, or PÖFF ( et, Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is the only festival in Northern Europe or the Baltic region with a FIA ...

References

External links

*
Official Site
(Film Movement)
Cineuropa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mother Of Mine 2005 drama films 2005 films Films based on Finnish novels Films directed by Klaus Härö Films shot in Sweden Films set in Sweden Films set in the 1940s 2000s Swedish-language films 2000s Finnish-language films Films scored by Tuomas Kantelinen Films about refugees Finnish refugees Refugees in Sweden Finnish historical drama films Finnish drama films Finnish World War II films Finnish multilingual films 2005 multilingual films

Plot

Cast

Selected awards

See also

References

External links