Best Finnish romance movies

In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles – from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.

Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.

A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.

Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.

Nikander, a rubbish collector and would-be entrepreneur, finds his plans for success dashed when his business associate dies. One evening, he meets Ilona, a down-on-her-luck cashier, in a local supermarket. Falteringly, a bond begins to develop between them.

After losing his job and realizing that he is alone in the world, a businessman opts to voluntarily end his life. Lacking courage, he hires a contract killer to do the job. Then, while awaiting his demise, he meets a woman and promptly falls in love.

Best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö support each other unconditionally. They want to live adventurous lives, loaded with experiences and passion. Emma on the contrary has given her whole life to figure skating. Nothing gets between her and success. But when the girls meet, life opens whole new paths, and they all rocket in new directions. While Mimmi and Emma experience the earth moving effects of first love, Rönkkö is on a quest to find pleasure. Three Fridays is all it takes to turn their worlds upside down.

Three penniless artists become friends in modern-day Paris: Rodolfo, an Albanian painter with no visa, Marcel, a playwright and magazine editor with no publisher, and Schaunard, a post-modernist composer of execrable noise.

Seventeen-year-olds Miku and Elias find themselves, and each other, during a summer in the Finnish countryside.

Summer 1962 and Olli Mäki has a shot at the world championship title in featherweight boxing. From the Finnish countryside to the bright lights of Helsinki, everything has been prepared for his fame and fortune. All Olli has to do is lose weight and concentrate. But there is a problem – he has fallen in love with Raija.

Two Finnish men agree to drive an Estonian woman and a Russian woman to a harbor.

Jaakko and Sirpa have never met face to face, but talk on the phone every day. When Jaakko hears news about Sirpa's declining health, he decides to go meet her in another city. It's not the easiest decision, because he's blind and paralyzed from the chest down - and he has to make the journey alone. To get there, Jaakko must rely on the help of five strangers. What could go wrong?

A carefree commitment phobic woman falls for a man with a small daughter whilst helping him to find a wife before he dies.

30-something Jonna, successful executive with cozy architect husband Niklas and two children, leads a double life. She is constantly on the lookout for quick casual sex. When she starts seeing handsome and rich young yacht owner Aleksi, things start going awry in her life. While her sister Sanna provides her with suitable alibis,sex therapist Nora tries to help her come to terms with her addiction

The idyllic and secluded Finnish archipelago. The pandemic soars across the world. Elli’s world trembles as her husband’s old friend arrives at the island.

A farmer's wife is seduced into running away from her stolid older husband by a city slicker, who enslaves her in a brothel.

Helena has worked as a kind of midwife on the eve of the Lapland War. She wants to leave everything behind, and a suitable opportunity arises when she falls in love with a German-Finnish officer Johannes, who is leaving to German-led Titovka prison camp in the Soviet Union. Helena enlists into the camp as a nurse, where she experiences the brutality of war.

The thorny relationship between a woman and her retired father worsens after he becomes romantically involved with the housekeeper she hires for him.

Ari, a paramedic, is a chronic womanizer; he makes it a point of pride to never sleep with the same woman twice, and his nights are a long series of brazen one-night stands. But when Ari meets Tiina, something unexpected happens – he falls in love.

Anni, a daughter of a wealthy family and used to secure life, falls in love with Veikko, a war invalid of the Continuation War. Anni leaves her past behind her and starts leading the life of a pioneer, in the wild forests of northern Karelia, in a settlement farm. After a rosy start, the fate crushes Anni’s dreams and her love for Veikko is put to a test.

Mikko Virtanen feels like a Swedish soul trapped in a Finnish body. Full of disgust for everything Finnish, he sees Sweden as heaven. Upon meeting a suicidal Swedish psychologist Mikael Anderson, he seizes an opportunity for an identity switch. Raspberry Boat Refugee is a comedy about cultural differences in the Nordic countries, their nationalism and, not least, prejudices about our neighbours. It also proves how futile it is to try to escape oneself.

Mariia visits her childhood home and reminisces about the summer of 1986, when a girl named Mimi arrived in the small village and filled the life of the then 15-year-old Mariia with light.

Modern finnish movie about two very different young adults that after a chance meeting end up making music together and fall in love. While Nellis parents have the perfect career and man planned, she dreams of becoming a singer. Through a chance meeting at the studio, she meets the young and grungy Hip Hop music artist Sunen and asks him to help her make a demo tape. Not only is the ensuing story about differences growing closer and the difficulties that have to be overcome, well told. Also the music is exceptionally well made. It is quite unbelievable that this is the first feature of the director.

The film follows Sanna, who sets out to document the countless ways there are to ruin a marriage for her doctoral thesis.

Caroline, a French architect in Vilnius, Lithuania, on business, has to spend an extra night in the city due to a delayed work meeting. At the bar of her hotel she meets Jaakko, a Finnish DJ who is in Vilnius for a gig. Caroline lets him understand that she doesn’t speak English, and Jaakko doesn’t speak French. Although they lack a common language, they find themselves enjoying each other’s company...

Longtime couple Venla and Antero come to a serious impasse. After years with Antero, Venla wants to start a family, but her boyfriend, worried that parenthood will stifle his speed-skating career, secretly gets a vasectomy. Determined to have a child, Venla seeks help from a female fertility doctor, a decision that breeds new possibilities for the prospective mother when she falls in love with the doctor.

Ville, 25, is a downbeat former child star who's successfully avoided his womanizing rock 'n' roll dad for years. Everything changes when his dad moves into his flat and they both fall in love with the same American line-dancing teacher.

Marja (Minka Kuustonen) is a blogger. Olavi is one of the richest men in the country. She might be able to save her blog if she dates him, but what if she falls for him for real?

An American, with a past as a successful musician, makes a living by playing at weddings and the likes in Germany. Then he gets an offer to tour in East Europe. During his travels he gets insight and finds true love.

Year 1915. Helene Schjerfbeck lives as a forgotten artist with her elderly mother in the countryside. It has been years since the last exhibit, and Helene continues to paint only because of her passion. Everything changes when art dealer finds Helen and her 159 wonderful paintings - and wants to organize a big private exhibit. However, Helen's turning point comes only when she is introduced to Einar Reuter. Young Einar is a forester, art enthusiast, and a passionate admirer of Helene's work. He becomes Helen's trusted and lover.

Sari is a young, beautiful and intelligent girl who is busy studying at university,but she suffers from epilepsy and has to face death on a daily basis. Mikko is hersomewhat older university teacher, who is tired of life, and who one day decides toabandon his wife, children and idea of a perfect life. Both characters have been tooscared to live their lives to the brim for too long. But they meet, and in spite oftheir prejudices and reserved natures, they manage to create a dramatic and movingmodern romance which confronts numerous taboos. While the imagery explores theboundary between life and death in a most poetic way, the odd couple's romance istold with both bite and humour. Society - be it in the shape of angry ex-wives,overprotective parents, conservative aunts or embittered colleagues - is doing whatit can to put a spanner in the works."

Wager is Count Mauritz Armborg, the young master of the estate. Linnanheimo plays Katariina (Catherine) the nanny to Mauritz's nieces and nephews. The two fall in love and decide to escape to Italy via Denmark where they have planned to get married. There are always complications because Mauritz's grandmother doesn't want him to marry below him - she has decided that Mauritz is to marry the Swedish beauty, Ingeborg Liliecrona.

Aimo and Milla live together at her alcoholics-turned-zombies parents' place, while saving money to move out. Due to his lack of self confidence, Aimo wastes their savings to turbo-boost his muscles, and eventually to turn himself into a robot. Milla doesn't like this new Aimo and leaves him. Aimo's heartache leads him to give up his heart for a metal one, one that doesn't hurt. Milla decides to steal Aimo heart: after all, a woman needs to have a man's heart. Lovemilla is an anarchic comedy trip, a story about love, robots and bodybuilding.

25-year-old Iiris and Karoliina have been best friends since childhood. Karoliina has been travelling and living abroad for some years now, but is coming back home for the summer as Karoliina has gotten them a job as waitresses in Hanko, the best summer city in Finland!

There is civil war in Finland between "Whites" and "Reds". A woman soldier of the Reds is captured by the Whites. She is ordered to be executed. A lieutenant is enforced into a homosexual relationship with his commanding officer to save the Red female with whom he is infatuated.

It was supposed to be just an ordinary holiday on sunny Kos, but Toni has to rescue a beautiful local girl, a talented free-diver, from the clutches of kidnappers. When it appears that nobody else can be trusted, Toni must reluctantly rely on his step-brothers' assistance.

A celebrated violin player, Karin, has to end her stellar career after a car accident makes her fingers stop working their magic. She starts teaching students who are twenty years younger than her, only to find herself falling in love with Antti, one of her students. They are not an easy match, both being passionate about the music and overly ambitious about their careers.

Jane, a structured travel agent in Helsinki, lives a comfortable life with her longtime boyfriend Mikki, a struggling actor. When Mikki proposes opening their relationship to reignite lost passion, Jane reluctantly agrees to attend a sex-positive retreat. There, she meets Valma, a confident, free-spirited woman deeply rooted in the polyamorous lifestyle. Drawn to Valma’s openness and emotional clarity, Jane begins to question the limits she’s placed on love and connection. As their bond deepens, Jane finds herself navigating unfamiliar territory—desire, jealousy, and self-discovery—while her once-stable life begins to unravel. What began as an experiment in freedom becomes a profound turning point that challenges everything Jane thought she knew about relationships.

Tuija Suvi, who works as a model, is delivering a dress to the daughter of a commercial counselor, but she has an accident and ends up meeting musician Asko Kari. Asko assumes that Tuija is the daughter of the commercial counselor and ends up inviting her to a restaurant, where both try to pretend to be something they are not. Gradually, however, the couple begins to truly fall in love with each other.

Liisa and the renowned composer Raimo Kaarna are fond of each other, but in Kaarna's family history, everyone does not accept the relationship. In addition, Liisa has her own doubts, and a secret that does not endure the daylight.

Jukka, 13, is coached in photography by his openly gay art teacher. With his dead father's old camera, Jukka sees Johanna, a beautiful girl in her early twenties being physically abused by her stepfather. With the help of the local fire department, Jukka comes to her rescue. He quickly befriends the girl who works in a nearby supermarket, claims to become her manager and enters her in a beauty contest.

Taavi,the enigmatic 18-year-old lead, has just inherited his long-deceased wealthy parents home and estate. It is high school graduation and Taavi's birthday, and after his fiends greet him au natural and are arrested, Taavi invites his friends to the mansion for a wild party. Taavi lives with a recording camera to his eye, a machine that allows his to keep interpersonal distance from everyone. Among his friends are Jere who considers himself a woman's man, Markus (who appears the well-adjusted one, and chubby, pierced Sami whose sexuality is ambiguous. The party gets wild, guests sleep around, and Taavi records it all!

There's this hot ice-hockey guy called Lauri Mäntyvaara. Satu promises she'll do her best, so that her best friend Heidi will get him. You'd think that the picturesque Finnish Archipelago would be the perfect place to discover your first love (and get rid of your virginity), but it will not be easy, if a cynical protein-shake-slurping ice hockey team thinks the target of your desire should focus only on the European Championship, and the only places you can escape to are the pretentious summer wedding parties - or bitter divorce parties.

Episodic study of feelings where six stories intertwine over one Saturday in a small town. Two boys save a young woman, Anni, and her baby from suicide by drowning. Esa, a down-on-his-luck musician in need of a loan, arrives to his father's 60th birthday party. Waitress Leena tries to stir up a romance between her co-workers at a pizza parlor. Middle-aged Ilpo comes home early from the paper mill and finds a strange man in their bedroom. Old Milja waits for her daughter Merja at the hospital where she is visiting her terminally ill husband Henri. Teenage Santeri tries to cope with his homosexuality.

The young man must set up a clear border between Finland and Russia, white and red, enemy and friend, us and them. While the task seems clear he finds out the execution of his command in concrete situations is very difficult. Right choices turn out to be wrong ones and correcting them make things worse.

Romantic comedy about a guy who wants to get laid before he is retired.

Stars above follows the stories of three women from the same family across three different decades. The main characters – Saima, Tuulikki and Salla – each lives in the same country house. Saima´s story takes place in the war time 1942, when Finland fought against Soviet Union, Tuulikki´s story in colourful year 1978 and Salla´s story in the present day. Each woman is between 30 and 40. This deep and beautiful, yet humorous film pictures the encounters between people and the possibilities for choice. How much does the time we live in affect us - and our ability to hold on to our dreams? What are those things which we pass on from one generation to the next? What changes, what remains the same? And to what extent do mothers´ choices, let alone their unspoken secrets, affect their daughters´ lives?

An comedy set in 1960s Helsinki. The story revolves around Elsa, a resolute hatmaker who is in complete control of her life. Besides running her shop, she sometimes doubles as a fortune teller. When Jan, a Czechoslovakian jazz musician and Elsa's old lover comes to town to perform at a "peace and friendship festival", her well-organised life is jolted out of balance.

Set in turn of the century Helsinki, author Arvo Helavalla's novel makes an indelible impression on adolescent Auli Ranta. She idolizes the author of a work that can never be forgotten.

A musical film about human relationships and how today's working life and the pressures of our surroundings can lead a person to the point of exhaustion.

Vaarala, a reserved romantic photographer, has an odd artistic vision of loneliness: he takes serial photos of an empty park bench in remote spaces of nature. When he meets and falls in love with the spirited, unruly Ansa, his ‘bench’ is suddenly filled. But in order to be with her he has to not only overcome his own frailties, but also the impending danger of Ansa’s volatile ex-con ex, and then Ansa herself, a woman prone to impulsiveness and impetuousness.

A bittersweet tale of a love affair between two people whose lives seem to have lost all direction. The female lead, Milla, is drifting aimlessly through life until she meets Aki. They fall in love - but happiness in a relationship shadowed by crime and drugs is not necessarily a given. The movie is based on the novel Minä ja Morrison by first-time author Kata Kärkkäinen

A Finnish-Norwegian love story with an unexpected shape and development. Shot in Oslo, Helsinki, Istanbul and Berlin. The film focuses on showing the actual moments that lead to getting to know one another, building a relationship and to breaking up. The film takes part in Kaisa’s attempt of getting involved with two different men that look almost exactly the same, questioning where the thin line is between someone potentially being the love of your life or not. Shooting the film with the approach of a workshop and closely involving the actors allows the film to take shape as a unique, unpredictable cinematic expression touching the basis and complexity of human behavior.

At first glance Maarit looks like any other woman in her early forties. There is, however, something strange under the surface. She radiates sexual energy that is hard to define.

The story of Kari Tapio, who sang his way into the hearts of the Finns in the 70's and whose popularity lasted until his death in 2010.

Irmeli, a fashion designer enjoying herself in Hanko, is urgently needed at her workplace. Ritva sets off to fetch her sister, but ends up by chance as a maid at Director Markka's villa, where Irmeli soon finds herself too. Director Markka and his nephew Reima are charmed by the clever sisters.

Pete is a football enthusiast, who plays as a goalkeeper for FC HeMan, a team playing in the lowest possible league. His girlfriend, Anna, hates the whole sport. Pete and his teammates are planning to travel to watch the Football World Cup held in Germany. Anna is not excited about Pete's plan to leave her alone for the summer. Therefore Anna decides to present a challenge to Pete: She will form a team from the wives and girlfriends of the FC HeMan players, and then the women's team (FC Venus) would play against FC HeMan. If the women's team wins, the men will have to give up football, and if the men's team wins, the women will never complain about their hobby.

Jane, a small-town girl, has moved to Helsinki and the world is finally open for her. Passionate and excited, she seeks adventure, all the things she has yearned for so long. Jane gravitates to a gay bar at night, staggers in her nervous state of mind, and suddenly there, right next to her, Jane finds her savior: Piki, the most dashing butch in town. Piki is perfect. Jane is hypnotized by Piki's dark-toned voice. Piki offers her an entire new universe, and even more - dreams.

Laila is an innocent Lappish girl and the only daughter of a reindeer herder. During world war II Laila rescues crashed German fighter pilot Hans and the two develop warm feelings for each other during his convalescence. Years later, after the war, Hans returns to Lapland as a freelance photographer and manages to lure Laila to run away with him to capital Helsinki to start a career as a photo model, much to the chagrin of her traditional father Aslak. After initial happiness, however, Hans abandons Laila and the decadent lifestyle of a big city sends her life into a downward spiral.

Ada, the pampered daughter of the Minister, crashes drunk with an immigrant and loses her memory. Ada starts dating the victim’s son, Toni, but the relationship is put to the test when the secret is revealed.

A private detective engages in a sexually-charged relationship with a real estate broker.

In his youth, the author Frej has already found a deep connection and passion with an upper-class girl, Stella Rabell, that has lasted between them through the decades. When Stella's older brother Alex falls victim to a stabbing attack, Frej begins to reminisce about the events of decades past. Frej's memories from the bright 1970s to the present day are filled with love, jealousy, betrayal, life and death.

Esko makes a bet that he will marry the first young woman he encounters. This turns out to be Kirsti, who promptly turns down the proposals. But when she finds about the bet, she agrees to marry him in order to get her revenge.

Emma and Joel get dumped by their partners on the same day, and when they meet each other they think they're a perfect match. Emma discovers she is pregnant and ends up taking care of Joel's mother while he goes off on tour to conduct around the world. Pregnancy, a crazy mother-in-law, trust, and loyalty test the couple to make the right decisions.

Career woman finds out that her boyfriend is living a secret double life. She finds a bag of money and decides to make a run for it. She is accompanied by a little girl who is also on a run from her criminal step-father. Together they're trying to make it to her grandmothers house.

Architect Paavo falls in love with and grows tired of the beautiful assistants in his office. On the advice of his middle-aged cashier Sandra, he decides to hire an ugly but hard-working woman. The resourceful Hilkka gets the job by hiding her beautiful face behind glasses and her curls under a scarf.