Entered in the Nordic Competition at the 49th Göteborg Film Festival, Alli Haapasalo’s Tell Everyone [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Alli Haapasalo
fiche film] is the account of an authentic mental institution for women, situated in Finland’s idyllic Archipelago Sea. The year is 1898, but the Finnish director sees contemporary relevance in the story of Amanda Altonen, a character played by Marketta Tikkanen.

Cineuropa: What made you decide to tell the story of this place, Seili, and this institution?
Alli Haapasalo: Originally, the story of Amanda Altonen was a book, which served as the primary inspiration. The writer, Katja Kallio, researched medical records and became interested in the character of Amanda. Katja contacted me right before COVID-19 hit Finland, invited me to breakfast and offered me the book to see if I would be interested in directing a script based on it. I instantly fell in love with it because of the variety of stories and human fates, which felt like ancient “meta” stories. And Katja created a beautiful script.

You’ve used the expression "institutionalised misogyny", which feels apt for this story.
Yes, many of these women were not actually ill. At the time, Finland didn't really believe in psychiatry, and many institutionalisations were gender-biased. For example, the character of Greta was a rape victim who was left alone to deal with her trauma; she was stigmatised and jailed while men often went free. In Amanda's case, she suffered from what we now call PMDD, but at the time, it was called "menstruation mania". Society’s gaze was harsh on women who refused to be maids or wives.

We’ve seen accounts like this before – Peter Mullan’s Venice winner The Magdalene Sisters [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] is a memorable one. But we find much more compassion in your film, not least regarding the staff, who are depicted as decent human beings. Can you talk about their relationship with the patients?
It was very important to me that this would be a human film, and not a story of "sadistic nurses" or a "Nurse Ratched" figure. I believe both the patients and the staff were victims of circumstance. To me, the "evil" was the society of the time that "cleansed away" people deemed unproductive, dangerous or unfit. I find it more gruesome to show kind interactions followed immediately by the reality of captivity and locked cells. The tragedy is that their freedom is taken away despite the beautiful surroundings.

How did you handle the authenticity of the period?
I did the necessary research to avoid mistakes with objects and natural lighting, but I prioritised a "present tense" feel over a "composed period style". I didn't want the actors to use higher vocal registers just to sound "old-timey", because I wanted them to feel relevant to a modern audience.

The images almost look like paintings. Were there even specific artists who inspired you?
We had a long preparation period with the cinematographer, production designer and costume designers. We wanted to get under the skin of Amanda and this world, rather than just following the idea of what a period piece looks like. An early reference was painter Andrew Wyeth and his work with light. Another was Hélène Delmaire, who worked on Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Céline Sciamma
fiche film] and is known for portraits where faces or eyes are "blown away" by harsh light. We used natural light and narrow shafts of light that didn’t always land in the "right" place to maintain a human quality. I love how the cinematographer, Jarmo Kiuru, was able to accomplish that. On the whole, I think the film moves relatively freely on the aesthetic scale – not messily, but in a nice, flexible way.

Can you talk about the casting process?
Casting this enormous female ensemble was like a candy-shop moment because of all the talent I was allowed to work with. We had established actors like Alma Pöysti, Krista Kosonen and Tiina Weckström, and several first-timers, like Inke Koskinen, who did a beautiful East Finland dialect! And Marketta Tikkanen, our Amanda, was a shining star right from her first self-shot tape. She has what I call an "Ingmar Bergman face".

What does this story tell the modern audience?
It explores how we look at "the other" and how gender-biased power permeates a woman's life. Even though we are better off now, we still have not fully got rid of internalised misogyny.

What’s your interpretation of the title?
The direct translation of Katja’s novel is The Carrier of the Night. We felt that title would be a bit too vague for the film. In the book, Amanda often said, "Don't tell anyone." We felt that Tell Everyone was a better title because the film serves as a record or testimony of these forgotten ones whose only remnants are medical records. I want people to know about these women and what happened to them.