The title The Arctic Circle of Lust (Pohjoinen intohimo) might hint at a deeply racy documentary, but in fact Markku Heikkinen’s rather delicate and compassionate film tells an open, touching love story about how a couple aims to learn the rules of a new kind of relationship.
Beautifully shot, and making the most of the striking northern Finnish landscape, the film is a gently intimate exploration of the boundaries of love, and is gifted a remarkably open and frank fly-on-the-wall delve into the lives of Petri and Anu as their relatively fresh relationship faces challenges.
Having been married before, and raised several children, 50-year-old Petri is opening up about his bisexuality and is learning to be truthful to his partner and to himself. Naturally enough, for Anu, Petri’s desire to fully embrace his own passions raises new questions about her own desires, needs and expectations in their relationship.
The film, which uses soft-focus and restrained close-ups, opens with Petri embracing a man while they are at a remote Finnish lake. He comments how his previous relationships fell apart mainly because he and former partners didn’t know how to talk about things. “My loneliness at the end of my marriage was something incomprehensible.”
He is happy with Anu, and they love each other and are open about how good their sex-life is. “You are more than enough for me as a woman,” he says to her. “I don’t need any other women.” He acknowledges that their sex has been perfect, but also understands that what he is asking of her is an ‘insanely big’ thing.
Petri and Anu love each other, get married, and look forward to the rest of their lives together on their potato farm in the countryside in Finland. But he wants to be open and honest about his own needs and desires. The film features plenty of footage of him responding to messages from various men as he sets up a series of meetings, while in gentle contrast Anu spends more time at church and starts studying to become a verger.
They have frank conversations about sex and how she wants him to take condoms with him. “I’ll be sensible,” he tells her. “I should hope so,” she responds with a hug, adding “be good.” But later in the film, when she is taking treatment for an STD, he admits to getting carried away in the sexual moment.
There is a genuine sense of openness and honesty as Petri sets about dealing with the local cruising scene and dating culture among farmers who meet in forests and at rest stops. He joins a support club for bisexuals (cue more footage of naked chaps swimming in a forest lake) as they discuss what they want from relationships.
To an extent Petri’s journey understandably dominates the film (scenes of him explaining his feelings with his daughter are remarkably moving), and while there are balancing moments of Anu worried and alone, what shines through is their love and strong sense of companionship, especially as they work on their farm and bond over the simple things in their life.
Finland-Germany-Sweden, 2026, 97mins
Dir: Markku Heikkinen
Production: Zone2 Pictures
Sales contact: Finnish Film Foundation
Producer: Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, Dirk Manthey, Fredrik Lange
Cinematography: Tuukka Uusitalo
Editors: Carl Javér, Rasmus Ohlander
Music: Stefan Will
