MWFF 2015: 2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING

2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING 

2015, Colour, Finland, Lithuania, 86 minutes, World Competition 

The film won the Best Director Award at the Montreal World Film Festival 2015 closing ceremony, on September 7, 2015.

The film shows a chance encounter of two people, a man and a woman, on a business trip. Although this in itself is a rather banal situation, the film takes it from there to a more profound level where each character goes through a deeper realization about what is missing in their private lives, and also what it is for them, as sexual beings, to create an emotionally profound and meaningful relationship. This is especially true for the female character who, though in a domestic-type of a relationship with another woman back home in France, has to face her strong attraction to a man and to re-examine her sexuality, her needs, and her emotions. At first she brushes this attraction off as something fleeting and insignificant, but the circumstances of her longer than expected business trip push her to deal with her inner issues in a far more forceful way. The film shows that it is a very difficult thing for her to do. Even towards the end of the film she still tries to flee it, but then another chance encounter happens with the same man at the airport. And though she declines his offer to join him on his new business gig, this encounter gives her strength to say no to a former situation in her life and to allot some time to retrospection.

Although the lead actor Mikko Nousiainen had stated at the Press Conference at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Montreal that the lead role in this film is that of the woman, that the man is a supporting role to help the woman to realize things about herself, to experience her inner turmoil and searching, and therefore to face squarely herself, and also, in my opinion, her true femininity, I could not help but feel that both characters have equally principal roles in the film, and that there were no supporting roles. The man also goes through some profound inner restructuring, although it appears to be an easier process for him than for her. It is for the first time in quite some time he became open to accept somebody fully into his life. He introduces her jokingly to others as, "We got married two days ago."  And she repeats this phrase later in the film. As Freud said, there is truth in every joke. And as Anton Chekhov said, if you have a gun on a set, it has to fire. This type of foreshadowing in the film, as well as the woman's abandoning at the airport the present she got in Vilnius for her French girlfriend, both seem to allude that the end of the film was not the end of the two main characters' relationship, though the director stated the film had an open ending.

It was also wonderful to watch the man's character. He acts spontaneously when encountering somebody special, and stands firmly his grounds vis-à-vis his attraction.  He is a surprising opposite to many troubled men we see on the screen nowadays. Yet his character is not flat or boring but actually quite intriguing. As the director said, the main theme of the film was to show how to be true to oneself, how to discover what was the truth for you. He also added this, "The main conflict of the story isn't between the man and the woman. The main drama happens in the relationship between the woman and her private life back home. Therefore, the biggest turning point in the end of the movie doesn't in fact happen between him and her. The biggest change takes place within her, as she finally has the courage or strength to follow what she feels."

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Film's Official Synopsis

A French architect, Caroline (Marie-Josée Croze), 40, in Vilnius, Lithuania on business, has to spend an extra night in the city due to a delayed work meeting. At the bar of her hotel she meets Jaakko, 35, a Finnish DJ who is in Vilnius for a gig. Caroline lets him understand that she doesn’t speak English, and Jaakko doesn’t speak French. Although they lack a common language, they find themselves enjoying each other’s company. A pleasant evening ends up with them spending a night together in Jaakko’s hotel room. But in the morning everything changes when Caroline reveals that she can speak English after all. Jaakko is a little confused, but plays it cool. Caroline in turn is feeling a bit ashamed and relieved to be leaving the city. Her return home doesn’t proceed as planned, however, as there are no flights out of Vilnius due to an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption. Caroline meets Jaakko again and he suggests that they make the best of it and get to know each other better -- find out what they both are really like. How often does one run into a one-night stand in a foreign country again? Caroline decides to play along. What then follows is 24 hours that could change their lives, but do they dare to seize the opportunity? 

 Director

Born in 1979, Finnish filmmaker Mikko Kuparinen made his directorial debut in 2005 with a short film, Homevideo, and followed that with two other shorts, Truth or Dare (2008) and Sirocco (2012) which won the H.C. Andersen Award, the Grand Prix at the Odense Film Festival, in Denmark. His first feature-length films, THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, an adaptation of a play, and MOBILE HORROR (2010), were directed for television. He made his theatrical feature debut in 2012 with the romantic comedy, BODY FAT INDEX OF LOVE (2012). 2 NIGHTS TILL MORNING is his first film in English. 

Production Team

Director : Mikko Kuparinen

Screenwriter : Mikko Kuparinen

Cinematographer : Tuomo Virtanen

Editor : Antony Bentley

Cast : Marie-Josée Croze, Mikko Nousiainen, Arly Jover, Eedit Patrakka, Jonas Braškys, Juozas Gaižauskas

Film production and Sales : Prod.: Mikko Tenhunen, Marko Antila, Kestutis Drazdauskas, Mjölk Production, Elimäenkatu 21, 00510 Helsinki (Finlande), mikko@mjolk.fi/Artbox, Labdari? str. 5, LT-01120 Vilnius (Lituanie), kestas@artbox.lt.

Projections

Monday August 31, 2015 - 07:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Friday September 4, 2015 - 02:00 PM - CINÉMA IMPÉRIAL

Excerpt from the Press Conference with Movie Director Mikko Kuparinen 

Actor Mikko Nousiainen at the Press Conference

Top Image courtesy of MWFF 2015 and the Director of the film.
All other photos by Nadia Slejskova.
© Nadia Slejskova