Kiss Me in the Rain
Rakkaudella, Maire

Finland 1999 colour 100 min Kinotar Oy

****

Drama

cast: Eeva Litmanen (Maire), Minna Haapkylä (Kirsi-Mari), Esko Salminen (Esa), Matti Onnismaa (Raimo), Reino Nordin, Antti Reini, Pertti Melasniemi
credits: dir. Veikko Aaltonen, script Antti Karumo, music Mauri Sumén

She looks fine. She has money, a son and a good job. But her husband is not there. His job is far away and the son is distant. She drinks and collects crime articles from newspapers. And then she gets an idea: she has to help one of those poor people whose name she has found in one of the articles. Maire wants to be loved and this is her way to find love.

Eeva Litmanen plays Maire as she really would be her. She is so good that you find yourself talking to her character, saying: "No, Maire. Stop that. Get some help, woman!" Another surprisingly good actress in this film is Minna Haapkylä. At first her character is to Maire as helpless object but in the end she is changes. The role is very difficult but Haapkylä makes it look easy. The reason for that why this movie is not worth of five stars (*), is in its story. This kind of a tale stays in between of realism and fiction but it can't never really reach the other side (realism).

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