''Mother of Mine'' (, ) 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 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 The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

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, P ...

. 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 ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

. He dies in the front and Eero's mother Kirsti falls into deep depression. As the war gets worse, Eero is sent to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

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 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 Marjaana Maijala (born 28 October 1968 in Lahti, Finland) is a Finnish actress, who has appeared in several feature films and television series. She has also performed in several Finnish theatres, including The National Theatre of Finland. Maija ...

Kirsi Lahti, mother of Eero * Aino-Maija Tikkanen Kirsi Lahti (present day) * Maria Lundqvist 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 role ...

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 – Maria Lundqvist *Best Cinematography – Jarkko T. Laine *Best Set Design – Cian Bornebusch At Sweden's official annual film awards, the

Guldbagge Awards The Guldbagge Awards (, ) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the name Guldbaggen. The awards, first ...

, ''Mother of Mine'' received two nominations, Maria Lundqvist 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 The Golden Pyramid Award is the highest prize for best film in the international competition of the Cairo International Film Festival, hosted annually in Cairo, Egypt. Winners and nominees References Bibliography * External links Pyra ...

at the

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year since its inception, except for 2011 and 2013, when it was cancelled ...

Lübeck Nordic Film Days The Lübeck Nordic Film Days () is a film festival for movies from the Nordic countries">Nordic and Baltic countries">film festival">/ref> () is a film festival for movies from the Nordic countries">Nordic and Baltic countries held annually in Lü ...

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 19 ...

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. Winners and nominees 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s Multiple winners Only 2 directors have won the awar ...

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

Viareggio EuropaCinema Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city in the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as well a ...

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 Hel ...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (BNFF), or PÖFF (Pimedate Ööde filmifestival), is an annual film festival held since 1997 in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. PÖFF is one of the largest film festivals in Northern Europe. In 2014, it was ...

References

External links

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

Plot

Cast

Selected awards

See also

References

External links