Soap Fever

In the age of monoculture and linear television, Finnish audiences also became captivated by soap operas, from Peyton Place in the 1960s to Dallas in the 1980s. Perhaps the last television phenomenon to truly unite the nation came in the depths of Finland’s early-1990s recession, when The Bold and the Beautiful lured viewers into the tangled relationships of the Forrester family and their fashion empire.

Inka Achté’s documentary film Soap Fever is a psychohistorical dive into this moment in time, exploring both the series’ contemporary reception and its significance for its audience. The Bold and the Beautiful offered a glittering form of escapism from an otherwise bleak everyday reality. Woven throughout the film are excerpts from the director’s teenage diaries, written during a period when, as she puts it, “Finns became redundant.” Alongside devoted fans, the documentary also features Marko “Waldo” Reijonen, whose father Hessu was instrumental in bringing the show’s stars to Finland on a regular basis. The film includes a wealth of delightful archive footage from these extraordinary visits, as Ridge (Ronn Moss), Eric (John McCook), and other cast members descended into the midst of an adoring public.

Tytti Rantanen