How far would you go for revenge? Black Ice does an excellent job at getting into the complexities of developing and the subsequent consequences of breaking relational commitments. One of the real strengths of the film is its ability to portray heightened responses to relational distress in order to better delve into the complexity of revenge, without pushing the interactions into the realm of absurdity.
Black Ice tells the story of a complicated love triangle. A middle-aged doctor, Saara (Outi Mäenpää), discovers that her husband Leo (Martii Suosalo) is having an affair with his student, Tuuli (Ria Kataja). After finding out about the affair, Saara befriends her husband's mistress under the guise of a fake identity. The plot follows the incredibly complex web of events that unfold as each relationship is developed.
As a viewer I was fascinated by the films ability to explore the nature of relational covenants. Specifically, this film looks at how covenants develop and what the consequences of breaking these connections are. Instead of staying within the typical Hollywood confines of stereotypical love triangles, this film breaks the mold by completing the triangle. Each side of the relationship triangle highlights a different form of relational covenants. What made this film relatable was that I could identify with the fears and complexity of the characters' that were working to define their relationships. I, like all people, have struggled with dealing with betrayal in a relationship.
One of the most fascinating relationships that the film included was between Tuuli and Saara. This relationship gets to the heart of what is involved in the initial process of developing a friendship, a form of a covenant. While pretending to be a divorced psychologist, Saara begins taking karate classes from the mistress, Tuuli. The two develop their relationship by spending time together as Saara builds her fake identity. An especially gripping point of the film comes when Saara appears to be developing a true empathetic friendship with Tuuli, and then she speaks of her intense hatred and desire to murder her husband's mistress. I found the depth of their relationship very well done in that it successfully integrated surface level relationships with deeper emotions in a thought provoking way. Although daily interactions in real life are nowhere near this extreme, I thought this film did an excellent job at highlighting the complexity of female friendships by looking at the effects of envy, loneliness, and competition that women are forced to contend with while developing all of their relationships.
Another covenant-based relationship, marriage, is also explored. Although the first exposure to the married couple involves a very intimate sex scene, the shots are interspersed with clips of another young woman. This editing technique effectively shows the interrelatedness of their stories. Although marriage is a partnership, a third character appears involved. I found it especially interesting that the concept of an ideal marriage was broken so early in the film. As a viewer I found myself approaching the film with preconceived notions of marriage as sacred, and yet found myself expecting brokenness very early in the film as a result of this technique. Though I was uncomfortable watching it occur, I found the scenes where Leo and Saara were discussing the missing condoms and Saara going to her husband's office and finding evidence of his correspondence with Tuuli to be fairly realistic. As humans we are wired to be envious of others' relationships with our partners. Additionally, having shots of the other woman at the beginning is very effective in guiding the audience to believe Saara in her accusations. This is necessary and effective for the films believability. Instead of making Saara seem like a crazy woman stalking a young college student, I identified her as being justified in her anger and her desire to do something about it.
Not only does this film explore officially recognized romantic relationships, it also explores open affairs. One of the most noteworthy aspects I saw was Tuuli's awareness of Leo's multiple affairs. This is an odd level of transparency. When working on Tuuli's architecture project, Leo suggests that she be bold and include glass bricks in her design. He seems to advocate a separateness that has a large degree of transparency involved. This is explicitly seen in that Tuuli has knowledge of his multiple affairs, and yet she does not actually know who is wife is. This interplay shows the complexity of Leo's views on relationships.
Another thought provoking aspect of the web of relationships is looking at the comparisons between Tuuli and Saara. The film includes many close shots of each blond woman. Their physical similarities evoke a blending of the two women. Not only is Leo clearly physically attracted to each woman, but also the women's identities are very clearly shaped by each other. Saara's alternative identity, Christa, is completely molded as a result of interacting with Tuuli. Additionally, both women are dressed similarly when they go ice-skating and when they are at the costume party. Both scenes involve interactions with Leo. This similarity highlights their shared individual covenants with the same man. This interplay is very effective at posing questions of identity and the nature of connections between those who have a commonality, such as Leo.
One critique I do have of the film is the lack of character development of Leo. I found his character oddly static throughout the film. He truly seemed to want to remain married to Saara. I would have liked to see more depth and range of emotion from Leo as he dealt with the drastic changes in behavior of Saara, such as her decision to move out and to supposedly date a new man so quickly.
Overall I was very disturbed by the reality of the complexity of the relationships involved. I would recommend this film to mature audiences who are emotionally ready to explore the multifaceted covenants explored in the film.
Black Ice tells the story of a complicated love triangle. A middle-aged doctor, Saara (Outi Mäenpää), discovers that her husband Leo (Martii Suosalo) is having an affair with his student, Tuuli (Ria Kataja). After finding out about the affair, Saara befriends her husband's mistress under the guise of a fake identity. The plot follows the incredibly complex web of events that unfold as each relationship is developed.
As a viewer I was fascinated by the films ability to explore the nature of relational covenants. Specifically, this film looks at how covenants develop and what the consequences of breaking these connections are. Instead of staying within the typical Hollywood confines of stereotypical love triangles, this film breaks the mold by completing the triangle. Each side of the relationship triangle highlights a different form of relational covenants. What made this film relatable was that I could identify with the fears and complexity of the characters' that were working to define their relationships. I, like all people, have struggled with dealing with betrayal in a relationship.
One of the most fascinating relationships that the film included was between Tuuli and Saara. This relationship gets to the heart of what is involved in the initial process of developing a friendship, a form of a covenant. While pretending to be a divorced psychologist, Saara begins taking karate classes from the mistress, Tuuli. The two develop their relationship by spending time together as Saara builds her fake identity. An especially gripping point of the film comes when Saara appears to be developing a true empathetic friendship with Tuuli, and then she speaks of her intense hatred and desire to murder her husband's mistress. I found the depth of their relationship very well done in that it successfully integrated surface level relationships with deeper emotions in a thought provoking way. Although daily interactions in real life are nowhere near this extreme, I thought this film did an excellent job at highlighting the complexity of female friendships by looking at the effects of envy, loneliness, and competition that women are forced to contend with while developing all of their relationships.
Another covenant-based relationship, marriage, is also explored. Although the first exposure to the married couple involves a very intimate sex scene, the shots are interspersed with clips of another young woman. This editing technique effectively shows the interrelatedness of their stories. Although marriage is a partnership, a third character appears involved. I found it especially interesting that the concept of an ideal marriage was broken so early in the film. As a viewer I found myself approaching the film with preconceived notions of marriage as sacred, and yet found myself expecting brokenness very early in the film as a result of this technique. Though I was uncomfortable watching it occur, I found the scenes where Leo and Saara were discussing the missing condoms and Saara going to her husband's office and finding evidence of his correspondence with Tuuli to be fairly realistic. As humans we are wired to be envious of others' relationships with our partners. Additionally, having shots of the other woman at the beginning is very effective in guiding the audience to believe Saara in her accusations. This is necessary and effective for the films believability. Instead of making Saara seem like a crazy woman stalking a young college student, I identified her as being justified in her anger and her desire to do something about it.
Not only does this film explore officially recognized romantic relationships, it also explores open affairs. One of the most noteworthy aspects I saw was Tuuli's awareness of Leo's multiple affairs. This is an odd level of transparency. When working on Tuuli's architecture project, Leo suggests that she be bold and include glass bricks in her design. He seems to advocate a separateness that has a large degree of transparency involved. This is explicitly seen in that Tuuli has knowledge of his multiple affairs, and yet she does not actually know who is wife is. This interplay shows the complexity of Leo's views on relationships.
Another thought provoking aspect of the web of relationships is looking at the comparisons between Tuuli and Saara. The film includes many close shots of each blond woman. Their physical similarities evoke a blending of the two women. Not only is Leo clearly physically attracted to each woman, but also the women's identities are very clearly shaped by each other. Saara's alternative identity, Christa, is completely molded as a result of interacting with Tuuli. Additionally, both women are dressed similarly when they go ice-skating and when they are at the costume party. Both scenes involve interactions with Leo. This similarity highlights their shared individual covenants with the same man. This interplay is very effective at posing questions of identity and the nature of connections between those who have a commonality, such as Leo.
One critique I do have of the film is the lack of character development of Leo. I found his character oddly static throughout the film. He truly seemed to want to remain married to Saara. I would have liked to see more depth and range of emotion from Leo as he dealt with the drastic changes in behavior of Saara, such as her decision to move out and to supposedly date a new man so quickly.
Overall I was very disturbed by the reality of the complexity of the relationships involved. I would recommend this film to mature audiences who are emotionally ready to explore the multifaceted covenants explored in the film.