Madness and Civilization
(Hulluus ja yhteiskunta)

Harri Virtanen / Juha-Pekka Hotinen / Teemu Mäki

Madness and Civilization is a film version of a radio play. The radio play was produced by the Radio Theatre of Finnish Broadcasting Company, YLE. The film version is an 'audiovideo', which means that the radio play has been used as the soundtrack of the film unaltered.



Teemu Mäki's description of the film:
“Madness and civilization is a drama documentary about xenophobia and misogynism. It's also about the relationship between violence and pleasure. The main characters of the film and the radio play are two murderers and one philosopher: Pierre Rivière, Anders Breivik and Michel Foucault. Actors are playing them, but the lines they speak are from court minutes from 1835–1836 and 2011–2012 and from Foucault's writings. Playwright Virtanen took the lines directly from these sources or slightly arranged them trying to stay faithfull to the content of the orginal texts.

For the film we first filmed the recording sessions of the radio play. Then we went and filmed the actual locations mentioned in the radio play, in a documentary style. We filmed in Uppsala University in Sweden, on the Utøya island in Norway and in the towns of Aunay sur Odon and Caen in Normandy, France.

In addition to these materials there are also some scenes and images in the film, which are not directly derived from the radio play, but which illuminate it from other angles and provide thematic commentary of its themes. My aim was to make a film that would on one hand humbly support the radio play like an 'audiovideo' should, but also a film that would be an independent work of art, a film that would not be just an illustration of the radio play, but a film that would comment on it and expand it. It was like directing an opera: the audio part was fixed, but the stage action and vision was all mine to use."
 
Finnish Broadcasting Company's description of the radio play:
"A modern tragedy about innocent victims, two murderers and a philosopher, who looks for pleasure and explanations. Was Pierre Rivière, the family killer a crazy person or a do-gooder? Was Anders Behring Breivik, the mass murderer a lunatic or a politician or a soldier? Or were they both just criminals? Was Michel Foucault an intellectual or a lecher? Harri Virtanen's new drama juxtaposes the case of Pierre Rivière – well-known from the 1830s onwards and carefully studied by Michel Foucault – with Anders Breivik, our contemporary. The work ponders how the society deals with extremists. When does the society use the perspective of illness and when that of crime, when it assesses the actions of extremists? Virtanen's beautiful text aspires to reach a kind of contemporary sublime and tries to approach its themes directly and without compromise, but it's not a spectacle and it uses no shock effects."

The film was screened first in YLE Areena, 2.11.–2.12.2014: http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2455278. Then it was shown on Finnish television, on YLE Teema, in March 2015. The first museum show of it took place in Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, in Vaasa, Finland, 14.2.–24.5.2015. International version with English subtitles was ready by March 2015 and was first screened in the Domestic Competition of Tampere Film Festival 2015.

Finnish Broadcasting Company's description of the radio play:
"A modern tragedy about innocent victims, two murderers and a philosopher, who looks for pleasure and explanations. Was Pierre Rivière, the family killer a crazy person or a do-gooder? Was Anders Behring Breivik, the mass murderer a lunatic or a politician or a soldier? Or were they both just criminals? Was Michel Foucault an intellectual or a lecher? Harri Virtanen's new drama juxtaposes the case of Pierre Rivière – well-known from the 1830s onwards and carefully studied by Michel Foucault – with Anders Breivik, our contemporary. The work ponders how the society deals with extremists. When does the society use the perspective of illness and when that of crime, when it assesses the actions of extremists? Virtanen's beautiful text aspires to reach a kind of contemporary sublime and tries to approach its themes directly and without compromise, but it's not a spectacle and it uses no shock effects."

The film was screened first in YLE Areena, 2.11.–2.12.2014: http://areena.yle.fi/tv/2455278. Then it was shown on Finnish television, on YLE Teema, in March 2015. The first museum show of it took place in Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, in Vaasa, Finland, 14.2.–24.5.2015. International version with English subtitles was ready by March 2015 and was first screened in the Domestic Competition of Tampere Film Festival 2015.

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End credits of the film:

Playwright/Sriptwriter of the radio play: Harri Virtanen.
Director of the radio play: Juha-Pekka Hotinen.
Script and direction of the film by Teemu Mäki.

Sound design: Ari Mursula.
Cinematographer & editor of the film: Anton Verho.

Actors:
Pierre Rivière – Miiko Toiviainen.
Anders Breivik – Ville Myllyrinne.
Michel Foucault – Jukka Ruotsalainen.

Judge - Timo Torikka. Priest - Jussi Lehtonen. Farmer - Pekka Huotari. Carpenter - Antero Nieminen. Farmer's wife - Noora Dadu. Worker - Mikko Kaukolampi. Geir Lippestad - Ville Sandqvist. Narrator - Teijo Eloranta.

In other roles:
Erja Manto, Klaara Hotinen, Tuukka Vasama, Tuula Hyttinen, Céline Orblin, Marc Gassot, Kaija Kärkinen ja Saila Mattila.

Dancers:
Anniina Tikka
Naomi Katayi

Based on real events.
The dialogue is derived from court minutes from 1835 (the case of Pierre Rivière)and from 2011–2012 (the case of Anders Breivik).
Michel Foucault's lines are from his books, articles and interviews.

Other important sources, in addition to the court minutes:
Michel Foucault: Folie et déraison / Madness and Civilization (1961/1964).
Michel Foucault (ed.): Moi, Pierre Rivière, ayant egorgé ma mére, ma soeur et mon frére / I, Pierre Rivière, Having Slaughtered My Mother, My Sister, and My Brother... (1972/1975).
Journalist Paul Brennan's tweets from Oslo Courthouse 20.4.2012.
VG-magazine's reports from Breivik's court case 2012.
Torgeir Husbyn and Synne Sorheimin criminal psychiatric analysis of Breivik's mental health (29.11.2011).
Stephen Riggins: Michel Foucault's interview 22.6.1982.
Geir Lippestad & Jon Gangdal: Det vi kan stå for (2013).
And for the film, separately:
Åsne Seierstad: En av oss. En fortelling om Norge / One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway (2013/2014).

The film is based on a radio play with the same name.
The radio play as such was used as the soundtrack of the film.

Production manager: Jorma Hellström.
Producer of the radio play: Pekka Ruohoranta / YLE, Radio Theatre.
Producer of the film: Teemu Mäki (Teemu Mäki, private company).
Commissioner of the film: Finnsih Broadcastin Company, YLE, Radio Theatre.

Music:
Johannes Brahms: Edward Ballade, Op. 10 - 1 (Glenn Gould)
Arianna Savall: Tarantela.
Giacinto Scelsi: l'Ame ailée (Robert Zimansky)
Giacinto Scelsi: l'Ame ouverte (Robert Zimansky)
Ákos Rózmann: Impulsioni I.
Ketil Bjørnstad: The Sea I.
Jordi Savall: Paxarico Tu Te Llamas.
Ketil Bjørnstad: The Sea VIII.
Muslimgauze: Uzi Mahmood 1.

Research for the film in Normandy: Camille Marchandeau.
Research for the film in Uppsala: Carl Frängsmyr.

Thanks a million for the following:
Håkon Knudsen / AUF (Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking), Norja.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, superintendent of Utøya island.
Priscilla Jane Mmari.
Riikka Ala-Harja.