The storm of progress has swept reality away, leaving behind a desert. That, too, is part of the communication society. Sand is a writing surface, but what is written on it does not last. The era of permanent writings has just come to an end, E seems to be proclaiming.
Anna Eriksson’s film, in turn, concludes the letter trilogy, preceded by M (2018) and W (2022). Something scandalous happens to former Prime Minister Eva Vogler (played by Eriksson herself), and soon we see her wandering in an endless landscape of sand. The imagery, drawing on the conflicts between public and private life as well as physicality, at times evoke the Spanish mystics, at others classical surrealism. The viewer knows that alongside the imagination-threatening desertification proceeds a reality-threatening desertification. The world is burning.
The mere extent to which E deviates from the mainstream feels refreshing or enjoyable. With her work, Eriksson holds up a mirror to Finnish cinema, urging it to take a good look at itself.
Veli-Matti Huhta