Karvat / The Hair (1974)
Karvat (The Hair, 1974) - Opening and closing credits
(English subtitles)
Karvat - Trailer
Warning: spoilers.
Karvat
Finland 1974
Director: Seppo Huunonen
Screenwriter: Seppo Huunonen
Based on Obsession (1962) by Lionel White
Producer: Seppo Huunonen
Music: Paroni Paakkunainen, Jorma Panula
Cinematography: Kari Sohlberg
Edited by: Erkki Seiro, Kristina Schulgin
Production designer: Seppo Huunonen
Production company: Eloseppo Oy
Premiere (Finland): 26 July 1974
Length: 104 min
The story of Karvat:
Karvat ("The Hair") is a 1974 Finnish erotic dark comedy thriller film written, produced and directed by Seppo Huunonen (1939 - 2023). It was loosely based on Lionel White's 1962 suspense novel Obsession, like Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 French film Pierrot le Fou. In Huunonen's version, Jean-Paul Belmondo was replaced by Mikko Majanlahti, an actor from the Tampere Workers' Theatre. Karvat tells the story of a middle-aged man who becomes deeply involved with the affairs and criminal connections of a mysterious girl. The main roles are played by Majanlahti and dancer Arja Virtanen, of which Karvat was the actress's only film. Previously she had appeared onstage for the Finnish adaptation of the pop musical Hair, made by Tampereen Pop-Teatteri in 1969. As Virtanen's own natural voice was considered too thin for the movie, it was dubbed over by the voice of actress Tiia Louste that is heard in the final film.
There was an experimental side to the film. For example, there's a comical sex scene which is made entirely as an animation, where scarves rub against each other and some erotic-tinged vocals are heard in the background. Seppo Huunonen explained this scene in 2010 for an interview in Film-O-Holic:
"As the female lead in the film dances, the scarves come off and depict the act of the main couple in a slightly novel way. If in old Finnish films the sex scenes were depicted by the movements of a steam locomotive cylinder, then this is a variation of that. In fact, I wanted to detach the event from external reality and actual sex, and thereby make it hilarious."
"But what did the Helsingin Sanomat critic write: 'The film crew must have had a lot of fun together while doing things like making out with scarves'. I can tell you that no member of the actual film crew had seen the entire scene before the premiere. It was realised by me drawing and describing to the FX photographer what I wanted it to look like. The cinematographer Seppo Rintasalo made a few versions, which I then developed further after having made some compositions on the editing table. After that, I gave him some new requests over the phone, based on which the final scene was then assembled from the shots that we had ready. And I can assure you that neither of us laughed while doing it, and we weren't even the slightest bit aroused – as far as I'm concerned."
Financially, Karvat was a flop, as it attracted just over 65,000 viewers, or only about a fifth of the audience of Huunonen's previous film Lampaansyöjät ("The Sheep Eaters", 1972). According to the 2025 article in Elokuvauutiset, the entire production of Karvat had been filled with troubles. Seppo Huunonen suffered at the time from alcoholism (according to Huunonen’s 2019 interview, he finally managed to sober up only in 1977). The production company Filmi-Ässä, which had made a good turnover from commercials, had in fact suffered financially from Lampaansyöjät, which had cost so much to make that it had not turned a profit, at least according to the producer's announcement, even though it had 340,000 viewers.
For the production of Karvat, Huunonen had founded a sister company, Eloseppo Oy (which borrowed its name from an old Finnish production company that had already ceased operations). The budget calculations for the company's first film were revised on the first filming trip to Spain, because the director did not approve of the footage made together by cinematographer Kari Sohlberg and production manager Anssi Mänttäri. The director himself had been constantly inebriated in Spain that he was unable to participate in the filming. When money and credit ran out, Seppo Huunonen had to beg the Finnish Film Foundation for an additional production loan on top of the 50,000 Finnish marks granted in the spring. In June 1974, it was decided to grant an additional loan of 30,000 marks. Karvat, shot in black and white, cost a total of 585,000 marks, or about 810,000 euros in today's money.
Alongside the comedy Viu-hah-hah-taja, produced by Pertti "Spede" Pasanen, and Risto Jarva's Yhden miehen sota ("One Man's War"), Karvat was the only theatrical film that premiered in Finland in 1974, a year known as the trough of Finnish film production, being also one of the least viewed Finnish films ever. In addition, it is also the second Finnish film, after Teuvo Tulio's Sensuela, that was rated 18 by the Finnish Board of Film Classification. This also contributed to the overall financial losses of Karvat.
The production was so heavily in deficit that, for example, the processing work carried out on credit by the film laboratory was still unpaid, so in the summer of 1975 Seppo Huunonen applied to the Film Foundation for a grant of 50,000 marks to reduce the laboratory bills. Granting a direct grant instead of a loan was unheard of, but the application went through, as the decision was made by the largest shareholder of the laboratory in question, Suomi-Filmi. In the wake of the scandal, both Eloseppo and Filmi-Ässä went bankrupt.
(Source: Ateneum Maskerad-julkaisu / Taideteollinen korkeakoulu, valokuvat, TaiKV.)
Some commentators have called Karvat "the worst Finnish film ever made". Critics were scathing in their reviews about the film. Eeva Järvenpää from Helsingin Sanomat summed up her assessment: “Karvat is trying to offer sex and humour, a show and momentum, violence and drama. In all of this, it fails miserably.” Timo Malmi from Ilta-Sanomat considered the film to be one of the "worst Finnish films ever" and in his assessment calls the film's “plot so confusing and tense that its progression is not even interesting, and the "alternative" fantasy ending does not make the viewing experience any easier.” In connection with the 2011 DVD release, Janne Rosenqvist from Film-o-Holic site found something positive in the film as well: “At its best, Karvat offers smooth physical black comedy spiced with jazz, but the outright obsession with experimentation is too much of a burden.”
Despite the film's original reception, Karvat gradually managed to gather a cult reputation. The original theatrical cut was released as a VHS tape, but for the 2011 DVD release (which is also the version available on YLE Areena) Seppo Huunonen created a "Director's Cut" which he had slightly re-edited (the order of some scenes is apparently different from the theatre version).
Seppo Huunonen, the director of Karvat:
Seppo Sakari Huunonen (19 April 1939, Vyborg – 25 February 2023, Helsinki) was a Finnish film director, screenwriter and producer, as well as a sculptor. Huunonen, together with Henri Torri, had designed the Finnish pavilion at the Seattle World's Fair in the early 1960s. After having worked in TV commercials and short films, also as a teacher of film-making, in the 1970s Huunonen directed three feature films. The most successful of them was his 1972 debut film Lampaansyöjät, which was a comedic tale about two sheep hunters based on Veikko Huovinen's picaresque novel of the same name. The main roles were played by Leo Lastumäki and Heikki Kinnunen, two popular actors on Finnish TV at the time. Spede Pasanen, a successful producer, screenwriter and director in Finnish comedy, was also interested in adapting the novel into a film, but Huunonen beat him to it. Lampaansyöjät was one of the biggest box office successes of Finnish cinema in the 1970s.
In addition to Lampaansyöjät, Huunonen directed the films Karvat (1974) and Piilopirtti ("Hidden Cottage", 1978). After the box office failure of Karvat, Piilopirtti was Huunonen's attempt to recreate a comedy similar to Lampaansyöjät. Piilopirtti was the second best audience success of its premiere year, with over 230,000 viewers. After this, Huunonen worked only on short films and as producer.
In addition to the films he directed, Seppo Huunonen was involved in the screenplays. He wrote Karvat alone, but Lampaansyöjät he wrote together with Pekka Hakala. In Piilopirtti, his screenplay partners were Vesa Nuotio and Pertti Reponen.
After his career as a film-maker, Seppo Huunonen studied mythology, also worked on theatre. He staged and designed the costumes for the Kalevala drama directed by Paavo Liski in 1985, which premiered on July 6, 1985. The play was the world's first full-length Kalevala dramatisation. It was performed at the Bomba House Summer Theatre for three summers. Huunonen was also one of the play's scriptwriters, along with Matti Kuusela and Liski. Huunonen lived in Nurmes from 1981 to 1988. He also served as the chairman of the Kalevala Culture Association and was the author of the book Uuden laulun Kalevala: Mythologia Fennica epos (Kalevala Culture Association, Helsinki 2004).
(no subtitles)
Huunonen died in 2023 at the Orion Cinema of Helsinki, where his film Lampaansyöjät had just been shown. Film director Anssi Mänttäri was interviewing Huunonen when he suddenly collapsed and died on the spot. He was 83 years old at the time of his death. Huunonen is buried in the Tainionkoski cemetery in Imatra.
Seppo Huunonen on Karvat:
"The film Karvat delves far into madness, alienation from reality and cosmic solitude. The main character Pekka encounters the world that is insane in many ways and completely out of his control. It is a depiction of a process of spiritual evolution, an identity crisis during which a person becomes a complete fool."
"Let me first tell you that the title and subject of Godard's Pierrot Le Fou refer to the Tarot card number zero, Le Fou, the Fool, or on other cards with the same number as Pierrot or the Fool. Perhaps a hint is also given by the fact that the theme tune of Lampaansyöjät, 'Lampaan polska' (Sheep's Polska), is an old mystery tune called 'Le Fou' and means God's fool or, as the name goes in the Greek Catholic Church's saintly tradition, 'the fool for Christ's sake'."
"Wynne Ellis, who translated the dialogues of all Finnish films into English in the 1970s, said that the humour in Karvat is so British that Finns don't understand a single joke in it. The film might have worked better in England."
"In a way, the film is a parody of a parody, which does not easily open up to Finnish mentality. In many ways, it was linguistically ahead of its time, perhaps even ahead of our time. However, Karvat is now starting to gain understanding and sympathy, especially among young people, its black humour and topsy-turvy world are opening up to new people."
"My three feature films are a trilogy. Three mythical stories about a three-stage identity process or a crisis of self-development, through which each of us will sooner or later go, some in a milder and some in a more drastic way. The film Piilopirtti is clearly an adult fairy tale, which describes further development in a slightly lighter way, how the road to hell is paved with good decisions. None of the three are intended for people who take things too seriously, they are fool's mirrors, mythical stories, and do not depict humans and the external world in a naturalistic way."
(From Seppo Huunonen's interview at Film-O-Holic, 2010.)
Synopsis:
Pekka Halme (Mikko Majanlahti) is a 37-year-old unemployed man who has failed both as a writer and father: his children don't like him and his wife (Eeva Varjonen) doesn't understand him. One winter evening Pekka goes out to a party with his wife and another married couple, Eero Melanen (Pauli Virtanen) and Irma Melanen (Pirjo Bergström). The Melanens bring with them a 17-year old girl named Maria Virkola (Arja Virtanen) to babysit Pekka's children. Pekka has a miserable time at the party and tells his wife he wants to leave when he sees her flirting with a young poet. She concedes but tells Pekka to drive Maria home. As they arrive at Maria's apartment, she asks Pekka in for a drink, he gets very inebriated, they dance and end up in the bed together.
In the morning Pekka wakes up next to Maria and is horrified to find a man's corpse in the living room. The man is called Donovan, a criminal and pimp, as Maria tells Pekka. He wants to call the police but Maria stops him. She explains Pekka that her wife had paid a nocturnal visit to Maria's apartment and left as soon as she had witnessed Pekka sleeping in Maria's bed, implying she wants a divorce. Soon after that Donovan, the apartment's owner, had come in, and upon noticing Pekka, had a fit of jealousy and was going to kill him. Before Donovan could do anything, though, Maria had stabbed him dead. Pekka tells Maria he doesn't want to escape with her, and besides that, he's broke. She shows him a briefcase filled with bankrolls. Suddenly Pekka's family friend Eero Melanen comes to the apartment using his own key, sees the money and finds the corpse. Maria knocks Eero unconscious with a clothes iron and is about to kill him but Pekka stops her.
Pekka and Maria take an escape flight to Malaga, Spain, where they get fake passports under their assumed names of Erik and Leena Ertamo. They change their appearance with wigs and pretend they are a married couple who have received an inheritance with which they want to settle in Spain, now looking for an apartment there. They rent a luxurious house and live a life of ease, making love and partying. Soon Pekka finds a man's corpse in the trunk of their car. The man was Pekka's acquaintance from Finland who was surprised when he thought he had caught a glimpse of Pekka in Malaga. Maria had killed the man to prevent him from disclosing their whereabouts and tells Pekka she had accidentally run him over. Maria starts to get bored, picks up an Arab man from the beach and has sex with him. Their car gets stolen and is found crushed in the mountains, behind its wheel the man Maria had killed. Pekka would like to wait for the insurance money as the money from the briefcase has been spent during these two months, but Maria persuades him to return with her to Finland where, as she tells him, her brother is going to help them.
Back in Finland they set into a motel and visit a restaurant where the pianist (Eeki Mantere) is an old "friend" of Maria. She promises to take care of the business and sends Pekka back to the motel to get prepared to check out. She calls Pekka and asks him to come to an address where Pekka finds the pianist murdered. A bunch of gangsters take Pekka by surprise, led by their female boss called Kamrakas (Krista Sihvo). They torture Pekka to find out where Maria is staying but have to leave empty-handed. Pekka, being badly injured, drives off the road but gets out the car before it's set in flames.
As soon as he has recovered, Pekka remembers Maria's brother and travels to Oulu. Pekka finds her at a nightclub where he gets acquainted with her "brother" Manu (Ari Määttänen). He forces Pekka to get involved in a robbery of three millions. Manu meets Kamrakas at a restaurant's private room and receives from her a briefcase full of money. Pekka, disguised as a waiter, brings Manu a gun hidden in an ice bucket. Manu shoots Kamrakas dead, takes the rest of the money, knocks Pekka unconscious and tries to frame him by putting the murder weapon in his hand while he's lying on the floor. The cops arrive, but aided by a "Super Goober" (in Disney's Super Goof comics a special type of peanut which grants superpowers) Pekka manages to escape and takes a biplane to fly to the hideout of Maria and Manu in the countryside. Pekka shoots Manu dead, takes Maria by force and strangles her. Finally he picks up the money into the briefcase, "breaks the fourth wall" by winking an eye to the movie audience and leaves.
Why Karvat is not the worst Finnish film of all time
Karvat has sometimes been called the worst Finnish film of all time, which I emphatically disagree with. To dismiss Karvat merely as a piece of trash or "turkey" would also mean ignoring a genuinely original and even innovative work that has a lot going on behind the facade. Of course, it can be freely admitted that it's a lurid tale certainly not for all tastes, but there are also many stronger potential candidates in the history of this country's cinema to bear that title of "the worst": the infamous Ponterosa (2001) of the Kemmo brothers, for example. Or what about certain comedic works of Visa Mäkinen or even Spede Pasanen...? Teuvo Tulio's Sensuela (1972) naturally deserves a special mention.
What makes a bad film? It is all outside the scope of this article, really, but basically it can be said that a bad film is characterised by poor execution in its technical aspects, such as awkward acting, weak storytelling, and amateurish or tacky visuals, and fundamental flaws like an unconvincing plot or insincere dialogue that alienate the audience. It fails to achieve its intended goals, whether that's telling a compelling story, evoking emotion, or even being intentionally entertaining, leading to a frustrating or boring viewing experience.
What is emblematic for a bad Finnish film, then? I can't call myself an expert of Finnish cinema, but my gut feeling is that the biggest stumbling block here has always been the lack of good screenplays. Of course, that there has never been enough money for film-making in this country is an eternal bone of contention, but when I watch many domestic films from the 1950s to 80s, script-wise, too often they feel like an unfinished draft. That the crew has just started filming without anyone putting together a proper story first. (More "artistic" creators notwithstanding, with Spede Pasanen's films it always felt like a quick cash grab, that his name alone would make the audiences to flock to the cinemas, never mind the plot.) Again, it would all require a lengthier analysis, so this is only looking for some explanations in a nutshell.
Of course, Karvat is often technically clumsy for a thriller, but in my opinion, the wild splurge of the whole and also all sorts of playing around with cinema's narrative means compensate for any shortcomings the film might have, so that Karvat can at least be considered an interestingly different case in the often too serious annals of Finnish cinema, even though it could not exactly be considered a cinematic masterpiece in any traditional sense. For those wanting to classify, there is a story of mad love with a femme fatale and dark noir elements, with the overall feel of a restless fever dream. And then some more.
The main problem perhaps being that the film is uneven in its technical execution, e.g. the cheap wigs and silly make-up that make it look like some trashy domestic comedy at times. Then, you can ask if it's actually meant to look like that, to emphasise the fact that everything we see onscreen is a sort of artifice and nothing can be taken for granted. On the other hand Karvat has one of the most accomplished cinematographers in Finland, Kari Sohlberg, who also delivers some fine camera work here, too. The film's dialogue is often lacking and even embarrassing, though maybe that's also deliberate, to depict the banality, ugliness and boredom of the world these people live in, but I daresay if you watch just closely enough, a genuine artistic vision, even a sort of personal philosophy as to its characters and the story, can be divulged from Karvat.
A vast chunk of the film can be interpreted as taking place in Pekka's imagination only, being merely his fantasy as a writer but there are no clear lines drawn. The "fourth wall" is broken for the first time when Pekka tells directly to the camera that this was the last time he saw his wife, after which we hear an intense tapping of the typewriter (recurring in the film also later on), indicating Pekka is only writing his book here, imagining everything that happens onscreen. In the 1970s, audiences and critics in Finland were just not accustomed to this type of storytelling. Maybe this kind of approach can be called "postmodern", something that was usually seen in the films only from the 1980s onwards. Pekka winking an eye to you, the audience member, at the end of the film is perhaps the key to understanding and even appreciating Karvat.
For me Karvat is quite entertaining, often even inspiring as a creative overall work. For better or worse, the story keeps in its hold and it can also be watched from start to finish without getting bored, which cannot be said of many other domestic films, even of more "artistic" merits. In any case, a cult film Karvat certainly is.
The whole film @ YLE Areena (Finland only)
Bonus:
A short film on Pori Jazz '69 festival, directed by Seppo Huunonen.
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