The Red Book of Farewells

February 6, 2023
Saisio (A Man and His Affairs) revisits the dawning of her sexuality and her development as an actor and political activist life in this illuminating work of autofiction. While at the University of Helsinki in the 1970s, she discovers her lesbianism via a brash fellow student she calls the clown-eyed girl, and through subsequent decades, she imagines the playwright Bertolt Brecht as a mentor who dispenses advice she tries to follow (“Bert tells her to observe what she sees, tirelessly and ceaselessly”; “Bert warns her about giving into listlessness and self-pity”). Saisio’s passion for theater is entwined with her drive for social justice; she cofounds an organization called SETA (Sexual Equality for All) and is determined to legalize homosexuality in Finland. With the clown-eyed girl still in the mix, she falls under the spell of the bold and blithe Havva, with whom she develops a long-term but not always conventional relationship. Though it can be tough to track the narrative threads, there’s plenty of charm in Saisio’s free-flowing approach, as well as insights on her development as an artist. Fans of Liv Ullmann will appreciate this.