Girls Girls Girls is the Finnish dating drama you need to see
The near-exhausted coming of age genre gets a fresh perspective in this tale of love and lust from Finland. Set in Helsinki, Girls Girls Girls follows three young women in search of physical and emotional fulfilment.
There’s Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff), who feels exasperated with the world until she meets and falls for Emma (Linnea Leino), a devoted figure skater whose passion for perfection is at odds with other desires. Along with Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen), Mimmi’s friend who’s trying to find sexual satisfaction of any kind, the three navigate the onset of early adulthood in their own unique ways.
On film, sex can sometimes be used for scandal or titillation, but Alli Haapasalo’s story presents it in a more realistic sense. It is shown as a process of understanding, one that can be hampered by hormones and societal pressure.
Rather than going from A to B, the film is content in enjoying the journey, as the characters’ awakenings signify life’s journey being one of persistent trial and error. All three leads have real chemistry, and their interactions say a lot between the lines.
Mimmi’s working relationship with Rönkkö is shown as just as vital as the romantic one with Emma, with the colleagues drifting apart as a result of not being emotionally equipped to support each other.
Not everything in Girls Girls Girls concludes in a satisfactory way, but that just adds to the feeling of authenticity. For audiences expecting to be bludgeoned with relationship tropes, this chooses to be refreshingly different.