Stormskerry Maja has become the most-watched domestic film of the 2020s in Finnish cinemas, surpassing Aki Kaurismäki's award-winning Fallen Leaves by a significant margin within a month of its release.
The romantic drama, titled Stormskärs-Maja in the original Swedish, is known in Finnish as Myrskyluodon Maija.
The film is based on a series of books by Anni Blomqvist that previously had been turned into a TV series and two musicals. It tells the tale of a woman who is married against her will at 17 to a fisherman. She learns to fend largely for herself on a remote, rugged island in the Åland archipelago.
The picture stars Swedish actors Amanda Jansson and Linus Troedsson, and is directed by Tiina Lymi, who had a successful acting career before becoming a director.
"Many customers have seen it twice"
Since opening in late January, the film has been a hit at cinemas throughout Finland, including the Star movie theatre in the northern city of Oulu.
The cinema’s owner, Kari Kantala, told Yle that the film has been exceptionally popular since its premiere.
"I know many customers who have gone to see it twice. And we’re talking about a [nearly] three-hour film. That tells you something about the quality of the film," he said.
According to Kantala, people of all ages have flocked to see it.
"I’ve been positively surprised that young people are also going to see it," he said. "That kind of high viewership depends on different age groups discovering a film."
Women directors dominate
Stormskerry Maja has attracted 305,139 viewers in its first five weeks in cinemas, surpassing Fallen Leaves, which has drawn just over 290,000 ticketholders since opening in mid-September.
The other domestic films to cross the 200,000-viewer mark in this decade are Pamela Tola's Ladies of Steel (Teräsleidit, 2020, 247,088 viewers), Maria Sid's Ricky Rapper and the Wild Machine (Risto Räppääjä ja villi kone, 2023, 205,529 viewers) and The Grump: In Search of an Escort (Mielensäpahoittaja Eskorttia etsimässä, 2022, 200,375 viewers) by Mika Kaurismäki, brother of Aki – making them the only male directors among the top five.
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