Hanna Bergholm’s Finnish chiller “Nightborn” shook up Berlinale’s competition, with some viewers laughing during its violent scenes. But its star, Seidi Haarla, isn’t laughing.
“We were dead serious while making it,” she tells Variety.
Haarla plays Saga, who moves with her British husband, Jon (“Harry Potter” alumnus Rupert Grint), to a house surrounded by a Finnish forest. Saga becomes pregnant, but after giving birth she’s convinced something is very wrong with her baby boy.
“For Saga, what’s happening isn’t funny. Her journey is about accepting things the way they are as opposed to her fantasy about motherhood. As this reality reveals itself, she goes: ‘What the fuck?! This is not what I expected.’ Perhaps the biggest lesson of this film is that parenting would be so much easier if we listened to our children more.”
“Sometimes, the advice you get just doesn’t apply,” agrees Bergholm. “In the end, you just have to listen to your child’s needs and trust your instincts. It helps if you also acknowledge who you are and how you feel, because then you can really connect.”
Bergholm, who gained recognition following Sundance hit “Hatching” – also co-written with Ilja Rautsi – is no stranger to shocking the viewers.
“When faced with big emotions and difficult situations, we try to cope. There’s an intentional way of telling this story in a way that puts people in a ‘discomfort zone’ and a certain humor that comes from people misunderstanding each other.”
Just like Saga and Jon, who’s tired of everyone around him acting so… Finnish.
“Saga has always been an outsider and now so is Jon, living in this new place. He doesn’t even speak the language. This kind of cultural shock can manifest itself in this way. You’re just frustrated and annoyed by everything.”
But it’s Saga’s connection to nature, not to her native country, that’s the main topic of conversation.
“I think she has lost it. So many of us did. She has to lose and break a lot of things, and there will be a lot of suffering, but that’s the only way it was supposed to go,” says Haarla.
Bergholm adds: “It’s about understanding who you are, even when society and others say you are ‘wrong’. I’m not claiming that everything Saga does is right, but she has to accept herself and all of her emotions.”
As well as her changing body.
“She feels: ‘This baby has broken me.’ There are things that happen to a woman’s body during childbirth that we never really talk about. If we look at what’s ‘allowed’ in films, it’s all about killing people, blood and exploding veins, but we don’t want to show someone giving birth or defecating. Why are some things forbidden and others admired?,” wonders Bergholm.
Haarla generally thinks of herself as a “body-oriented” actor.
“The body is where I find all my answers and truths. Of course, it also provides a bridge to motherhood, even though in real-life I gave birth by C-section and that wasn’t my dream. I’m not afraid of physicality; the mind is much scarier.”
She wanted to ensure Saga’s body wouldn’t be made fun of in the film.
“Early on, Seidi asked: ‘Are we laughing at her?’ We would never do that. It’s important people call each other beautiful, but it’s also important to sometimes say: ‘I feel ugly.’ And for someone to hear that,” notes Bergholm.
Following a challenging year for the Finnish industry, which barely avoided government cuts of seven million euros, the inclusion of “Nightborn” in Berlinale competition is a much-needed win.
“People ask: ‘Why do films cost so much?’ It’s not the film itself that costs – it’s people’s salaries. Statistically, for every euro invested in Finnish films, at least double is returned. It benefits Finland economically to bring these stories to the world. We need to communicate that,” says Bergholm.
Haarla, who previously starred in one of the biggest Finnish successes in recent years, “Compartment No. 6,” is more solemn.
“We are now under this government, this regime, which is announcing cuts and making decisions based on their values. I am not sure if people who value creativity and art will win that competition,” she says.
“I think films will never disappear, and people will never stop creating and coming together, but the way we do it will change. We are too entrenched in a capitalistic mindset for that not to happen.”
Before it does, it’s worth making films that are different, argues Bergholm.
“There’s value in making something that shakes people. We love Mozart and Van Gogh now, but people didn’t respond well to them at first. They thought it was wrong! If you just repeat what you have already seen and done, why bother?”