Pahanhautoja / Hatching (2022) – 3/5

Mother of the year

„Hatching“ or „Pahanhautoja“ is a new Finnish movie from 2022 and this is really not a particularly long watch at comfortably under 1.5 hours and that already includes credits, so just briefly over 80 minutes without them. Director Hanna Bergholm has been active in the industry for over 15 years before shooting this one and she was also in charge of the screenplay together with Ilja Rautsi. For both, it will surely become (actually it already has) their biggest career effort as this film has been making nice waves lately without even being released in most countries. Critics also seem too adore it. For Bergholm, this is especially nice because here we have her first big theatrical release and it can now be said already that this was enough of a success for her career to really take off, especially if we look at some awards recognition, even if it’s just nominations, in America and it makes me wonder if she can also shoot Hollywood films with American actors at some point. We will see about that. For now, let’s stay in the present and look at what she has done here. The cast I cannot talk too much about, but if you look at the bodies of work of most cast members here, you can see they brought the required experience and expertise for this film to become a success. I am a bit surprised to see Volanen (the father) much more experienced than Heikkilä (the mother), but I guess age also has to do with that. I will get to the specific characters a little later. For lead actress Solalinna, however, it was the very first film performance and really impressive for that. I mean she even plays two characters then towards the end and with the second she can let it all out.

The main character is rather restrained and quiet and usually overshadowed by her overbearing mother. This was one creepy character really. I think the very first shot there with how she approaches her daughter from behind which is a bit of a horror film spoof of course as we know this is not a beast coming for the kid was very telling because truth is said mother really is the beast. I will talk about all she did right away, but the most crucial thing is that she in the end is even the one who kills her daughter somehow. I still don’t know how the knife ended up in the girl’s chest and not in the bird’s chest if you can even call her that at that point because it was pretty much a full-on human there. A bit of a surprising ending. I personally expected the raven to kill the mother, just like she killed a raven at the very start, but maybe this was too obvious. Let me just do some brainstorming about the most memorable moments for now: One would be of course the first time the bird literally eats the vomit from the girl like a young bird actually would. It may seem gross, but it is nature too. Then there is of course everything involving the neighbor girl who was just a much more skilled acrobat. Be it the scenes between the two girls who seem to get along well or everything involving the other girl’s dog or the rivalry that is made even more complicated from the mother’s side with how she talks about/to the other girl. The consequence there is tragedy as well with what happens to the other girl. I had a feeling when she was introduced that we would see a lot more from her, also in terms friendship between the two girls, but this gets also indirectly forbidden by the main character’s mother who tells the protagonist that she needs to focus on the sport. On one occasion, we find out that the mother had her own career when she was young, in figure skating apparently. There are so many moments and scenes that involved the mother that I could talk about, but I will just limit it to two or three. The emotional burden she unleashes on her child is just massive. This also involves an indirect reference to anorexia with what she tells her girl on one occasion and also with what a healthy meal looks like for the main character.

Then there is of course the scene in which the mother takes care of another baby and she woke that one up with her screaming and complaining and then blames the main character that she woke her up and she also calls that baby her favorite girl. This is already at the new guy’s house. Yep, the mother also had an affair with another man and when the main character sees it, the mother makes things even more awkward by turning it into a secret between the two females, a situation you should not get a child into ever. All this in the face of the seemingly very harmonic vlog diary or whatever she is doing in terms of what life is like for a really harmonic Finnish family. Nothing harmonic there as you can see right away when mother breaks the raven’s or crow’s (or whatever it is) neck because no way she would accept an animal to destroy her beautiful home. If the bird did panic or was on an intentionally destructive path is up for speculation. So it is a very serious film for the most part, also with how it results in tragedy eventually, but here and there you will also find a few moments that can make you laugh. The best example for me was really when the main character is there under the bed with the bird and daddy enters the room to solve a conflict between the protagonist and her brother that involved her not letting him to use the toilet and daddy mistakes the blood on the sheet for the girl’s first period. This was so hilarious in an awkward manner. It was really the bird’s blood if I remember correctly, in any case no young girl’s period. The father was in it for the comedy mostly anyway with how he was accepting absolutely everything and literally not showing any emotions, neither positive or negative, and pretty much just existing. It was also funny how he and his son almost turned into twins with their looks and clothes after the females left the place. The brother is a character that was not likable, but still you could feel kinda bad for him. He was really right with what he said about the girl burying the dog outside. And he is also treated badly by his mother at times.

On a completely different note, this is not a film that is kind to animals. I mentioned the crow already early on, but look at what happens to dogs, what happens to insects in the garden and maybe also to moles in the same scene. Tough stuff. So it is a bit of a surprise the (evolved) bird survives in the end then, even if it suffers somehow. Or not with how human it is at that point already. We do not know how the story continues and what happens with the mother, with the „new daughter“ etc. By the way, the lead actress reminded me a bit of a young Maria Sharapova, but maybe that’s just me. There were moments where you could wonder if there is actually another creature or if it is all just in her mind and a bit of a metaphorical depiction of how one character is the calm part that is always obeying and the other is the anger directed at the new rival from the training, but also at the new baby that her mother (who is not even the baby’s mother) seems to care about much more than about her daughter. However, I think this is not really the case and we do have two tangible characters and that the raven is not just imaginary. Best example is how in the absence of the main character, the raven is close to killing the other baby while Tinja is far, far away. This was also too much for Tero, the new man in the mother’s life and he really deems the two pretty insane at that point and realizes that it is better if they go. He may be the closest to normal here overall from all the characters. Even brings some joy to Tinja’s life briefly and shows her it is okay if she is not perfect, if she makes a mess on the table or if she fails with one of her acrobatics showings. This is also where you see Tinja laugh or smile at least. A bit ironic that it is the person outside of the family who gets her to, but he seems to like Tinja and from what we hear, he has been through a lot as well with his previous love, the mother of his baby girl. But enough is enough when things escalate while Tinja has left to take part in the competition.

Overall, I still think that in terms of Scandinavian / North European countries, Denmark is comfortably ahead of the rest in terms of quality films (maybe even ahead of my country Germany) and then Sweden is in second and then Finland and Norway on a shared third place, but this really solid film we have here makes me say that if Finland keeps delivering this level of quality more often in the next years, no matter if through Bergholm (sounds Swedish too anyway) or others too, then this country will be able to reduce the gap a little bit. Good for them! I am glad I got to see this at the movie theater today and I think that if you like horror films, then you should give it a chance. There are some smart inclusions, nice attention to detail and also a few scenes that will stay on your mind, be it the very showy parts with the young bird and what it looks like or the scene with the removal of the shard from the wing that was almost emotional or, on the other side, brief and really subtle inclusions like how the protagonist says bye to Tero on one occasion before stepping into a car. There is something that will stay on your mind. I was closer here to giving this film a really high rating of 4 stars out of 5, but for now I will just stay with three I guess. One thing that was never in doubt since minute one for me was the positive recommendation overall. Go check this one out. I enjoyed it and I was glad the room was packed during this showing I visited, even if it was a bit of a special event screening, but I hope when the film gets its wide release in the near future that equally many people will pay to see it. It would be deserving. Good job to everybody who was a part of the making, most of all Bergholm and Solalinna (who does play the first fiddle here nicely, even if her character doesn’t), but also all the ones in smaller positions. Thumbs-up.