vegetarian filmsIn the Footsteps of Young Werther
Story
In Jarmo Lampela’s moving drama, a father played by Juha Kukkonen sets out to discover what his son was like. In the Footsteps of Young Werther is the story of a father and a son who never knew each other, but would have wanted to.
The sculptor Viitanen has not seen his son Eero for fifteen years. The boy only becomes real to him when a letter tells him that Eero has died. Wanting to know who Eero was, Viitanen goes to see his ex-wife, and the meeting starts a detective quest: he seeks out the people who knew Eero and tries to piece together the young man his son had become. To his surprise, he learns that Eero had moved to Suomenlinna, Viitanen’s own island, intending to come and meet his father.
Despite its sad starting point, the film is a warm and touching love story and a portrait of a father freed from the guilt of abandonment that has weighed on him for years. It is loosely based on Ulrich Plenzdorf’s play Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.
Credits
- Director
- Jarmo Lampela
- Producers
- Jarmo Lampela, Ilkka Mertsola
- Starring
- Juha Kukkonen
- Cinematography
- Aarne Tapola
- Editing
- Kauko Lindfors
- Sound design
- Patrick Boullenger
- Set design
- Tomi Lauri
- Based on
- Ulrich Plenzdorf: Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.
Press
Key image and stills (9) plus story and credits in Finnish, English and Spanish. The images may be published in coverage of the work, credited to Vegetarian Films.
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