{"id":2139,"date":"2012-01-06T16:03:41","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T15:03:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=2139"},"modified":"2012-01-06T16:03:41","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T15:03:41","slug":"cross-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/01\/06\/cross-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Cross of Love<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nDates:<\/B> 17-22 December 2011

\nVenues:<\/B> ICA

\nDirector:<\/B> Teuvo Tulio

\nWriter:<\/B> Nisse Hirn

\nBased on a short story by:<\/B> Alexander Pushkin

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Rakkauden risti<\/I>

\nCast:<\/B> Regina Linnanheimo, Oscar Tengströ, Ville Salminen

\nFinland 1946

\n99 mins
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An iris closes in on a face and bursts back outwards. A landscape shot is split open. Figures bend as the screen is folded as if it were a page in a book. When Teuvo Tulio cuts a scene, he does so with grand gestures of assertion that verge on the absurd. Brazenly melodramatic, his edits are emblematic of his film language, where shifts in the narrative are signalled and character motivations marked with gaudy metaphors. His contemporaries criticised his exaggeration, reiteration and obsession with prurience; nevertheless, for admirers since, who range from fellow Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki to cult mavericks Guy Maddin<\/A> and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, satisfaction has been derived from embracing Tulio’s kitsch brushstrokes, which are delivered with conviction.<\/p>\n

A montage of tempestuous winds and angry waves: within seconds of the opening of Cross of Love<\/I> (1945), Tulio makes sure we know discord will ensue. In this adaptation of Pushkin’s ‘The Stationmaster’, Riita, the daughter of a lighthouse owner, dreams of escape until a shipwrecked playboy lures her out of her father’s grasp and, like the waves, takes her away into the city. An all too recognisable set-up, the city is of course infested with putrid greed, corrupted codes and dangerous deeds that evoke von Sternberg (Underworld<\/I>, 1927) and von Stroheim (Greed<\/I>, 1924). Abandoned and lost, the innocent Riita turns amoral and amorous as she caves into a life of prostitution, a fallen woman í\u00a0 la G.W. Pabst’s Lulu<\/I>. Cross of Love<\/I> follows the patterns of Finland’s post-war ‘problem films’, which warned their viewers of social horrors (at least Riita escapes syphilis, a common fate for the genre’s characters) and incorporates betrayal and hoodwinking antagonists, themes that were censored in wartime cinema. The moral decay of the city positioned against the idyllic glow of countryside fields was also typical of Tulio’s 1940s scenarios (The Way You Wanted Me<\/I>, 1944), and only a slight departure from his pre-war ‘haystack dramas’, pastoral scandals rooted and trapped within their settings (The Song of the Scarlet Flower<\/I>, 1938, and In the Field of Dreams<\/I>, 1940).<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Cross of Love<\/I> remains a standout and Tulio’s most impressive achievement. Riita’s plight is portrayed with a riveting sexual frankness that was remarkable for its time, and Tulio never shies away from full-frontal nudity or candid metaphors that barely conceal the lust that sinks Riita into the mud of the city streets. Just as Riita begins to lose control, she meets a young artist who asks her to model for a painting, which gives the film its title; depicting her almost nude and with her arms spread against a cross, Riita’s portrait more than evokes original sin and freezes her fall into a startling image: ‘we’re trying to capture the suffering…’ Deliciously delirious, the actress Regina Linnanheimo, whose unapologetic madness somehow elicits compassion, summons sincerity in Riita’s descent from luminescence to darkness. Occasionally, the music is so overpowering that Tulio abandons dialogue completely, instead allowing close-ups of Linnanheimo’s face to dance with Bach. At times uncomfortably florid, Tulio’s Cross of Love<\/I> is melodrama at its most wildly excessive.<\/p>\n

Julian Ross<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A montage of tempestuous winds and angry waves: within seconds of the opening of Cross of Love<\/I> (1945), Tulio makes sure we know discord will ensue.
\nReview by Julian Ross<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[273,271,269,270,272],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-cinema-releases","tag-1940s-cinema","tag-aki-kaurismaki","tag-finnish-cinema","tag-guy-maddin","tag-melodrama"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-yv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4862,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/02\/19\/in-order-of-disappearance\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":0},"title":"In Order of Disappearance","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"February 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hans Petter Moland's playful take on Nordic noir is darkly amusing and makes excellent use of the snowy landscape for a staggering war of revenge. Review by Pamela Jahn","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"In Order of Disappearance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/In-Order-of-Disappearance-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/In-Order-of-Disappearance-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/In-Order-of-Disappearance-594x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6037,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/11\/18\/eros-massacre\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":1},"title":"Eros + Massacre","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"November 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Kij\u00fb Yoshida\u2019s 1960s masterwork on free love and radical politics finally comes to Blu-ray\/DVD. Review by Mark Player","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eros-46","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Eros-46-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Eros-46-594x394.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Eros-46-594x394.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":579,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/04\/01\/naked-lens-beat-cinema\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":2},"title":"NAKED LENS: BEAT CINEMA","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Jack Sargeant's Naked Lens is a unique exploration of the relationship between the Beat Generation and the medium of cinema, and the early influence of the literary movement on American independent film. Review by John Berra","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1200,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/06\/01\/the-vice-guide-to-film-mexican-narco-cinema\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":3},"title":"The Vice Guide to Film: Mexican Narco Cinema","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"June 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Smith travels from Texas to Tijuana, on the way doing a great job of putting Mexico's ultra-violent Narco Cinema of drug runners, fetishised cars and bad cops in context. Review by Alexander Pashby","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_NarcoCinema-594x445.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_NarcoCinema-594x445.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/review_NarcoCinema-594x445.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":417,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/09\/04\/inglorious-bastards\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":4},"title":"INGLORIOUS BASTARDS","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"September 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent DVD release of Italian 70s exploitation movie Inglorious Bastards is not exclusively due to its artistic merits but also to the publicity given to the film by that cinema archaeologist, Quentin Tarantino, who is currently working on a remake. Review by Celluloid Liberation Front","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/08\/31\/death-proof\/","url_meta":{"origin":2139,"position":5},"title":"DEATH PROOF","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"August 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Now released in an expanded stand-alone version after the US flop of the 'Grindhouse' double bill (which also comprised Robert Rodriguez' forthcoming Planet Terror), Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino's latest tongue-in-cheek homage to genre cinema. After heist movies, blaxploitation and martial arts actioners, now it's the turn of the 70s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2141,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions\/2141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}