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1986, a village in western Finland. Not too far away, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes, but Mariia's going crazy because of Mimi, who’s the same age, is joining class. Soon, both find themselves in the whirlwind of their first great love. Twenty years later, the now adult Mariia returns home to care for her sick mother and is confronted with memories of this one tragic autumn of her youth. Between dreams and fantasies, director Inari Niemi primarily captures the influence of the different backgrounds from which the two girls come from. Mariia remembers a world that was too self-centered and blind to Mimi's precarious circumstances, while she realizes how heavy the weight of her parents' rejection of Mimi's origins weighed on their love, in which these issues didn't even play a role yet. In a touching way, Niemi manages the balancing act between merciless social criticism and a heartwarming love story between two teenage girls.

Text: Joshua Jádi