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Poster for Portraits of Women

Portraits of Women

1970 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama

Weeknight Watchearly rating

Why it’s a Weeknight Watch

With almost no lasting buzz and mixed reviews, it's a mixed bag. Fine if it's on; don't plan your night around it.

Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.

Is it for you?

Who'll love it: Aimed squarely at fans of sharp satire and fans of a well-timed joke. The jokes have targets, and it hits most of them. Fans of Happiness should feel right at home.
The mood: Provocative satire that goes after everyone.
The pace: Quiet, then quietly devastating, at 1 hr 30 min. Short enough for a weeknight.
What might put you off: It's in another language, so expect subtitles (or a dub).
Made in 1970: an older pace and style.
Not the pick if you want something heavy or meaningful.

Finnish porn movie producer Pertsa returns from America to his home country to continue his profession with hopelessly small budgets and incompetent casts and crews. A self-ironic satire about director Donner's scandalous fame in late 1960s Finland, notorious for a graphic long shot of his penis pointing northeast.

How it earned its rating

CriticsBelow par
Mixed reviews
AudiencesNot counted
Not measured yet: not enough ratings
AwardsNot counted
No major awards or nominations
Reach & staying powerSolid
Streaming release that reached a small audience so far; still draws a steady audience long after release
Buzz & cultural impactWeak
About 2K people sought it out in the past year

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Cast & crew

Directed by Jörn Donner

Jörn DonnerPertti 'Pertsa'
Ritva VepsäSaara Suominen
Kirsti WallasvaaraLiisa
Aarre EloJussi
Marianne HolmströmUlla Carlsson
Henrik GranöSven Pettersson
Jaakko TalaskiviPeter von Spaak (uncredited)
Lennart LauramaaProducer (uncredited)
Hannu OravistoSchoolboy (uncredited)
Heli SakkiActress (uncredited)