Marjut Rimminen

Commercials

Valintatalo, Hyvä tyttö

1974 · Commercial · 35mm · 30 seconds

Valintatalo / Filmi Ässä

A woman creeps in holding her shoes, so as not to wake her husband, but he switches on the light and wants some answers. He is angry because she has not noticed the day’s special offers at Valintatalo. She promises to check them every day, as he demands. Calm returns, and she asks whether she is still “a good girl”.

With humour and comedy, this commercial passed my feminist critique.

Marjut Rimminen

There were three Valintatalo commercials, all made with Lemmikki Nenonen and the same crew: Suolaa, suolaa in 1972, Hyvä tyttö in 1974 and Kotkan Ruusu in 1975. Hyvä tyttö was the first commercial Marjut made in London. Its woman became an icon, printed everywhere in the shops and on a matchbox.

A Valintatalo matchbox printed with the woman from Hyvä tyttö and the line Valintatalossa on aina kunnon tarjouksia.
The matchbox
Valintatalo still, the woman with orange curls sits at the foot of the bed against red floral wallpaper, a framed portrait behind her, while the bald, moustached man sits up under the covers with his arms folded and does not look at her
The woman walks toward the door past framed pictures on a patterned wall. A near-black bedroom with a bright lit doorway and a bed rail in silhouette. A woman in a maroon nightdress stands at a white door, wallpaper and framed pictures behind her. A bald, moustached man sits up in bed under blue covers with his arms folded. The woman waits in a slip against red floral wallpaper, hands pressed together. The man holds up a newspaper drawn with squiggled pretend text; the woman sits behind him. Close on the woman’s face, a finger at her lip, her eyes cast down. The man stares out from the bed in the foreground while the woman stands behind.

What is said, as Marjut wrote it down in English: He: “Are you coming from Valintatalo, since it is so late?” She: “No… we were out with the girls…” He: “Where did you buy those?” She: “They only cost a fiver.” He: “Look what Valintatalo had on offer today.” She: “Ohh…” He: “You have to look at the Valintatalo offers every day.” She: “I promise. Well, do say that I am still a good girl.”

Valintatalo still, the woman in an apricot slip sits against maroon floral wallpaper while the newspaper her husband holds fills the rest of the frame, its three columns drawn as ruled lines of pretend text with smudged pictures set into them

Awards

  • 🥉 Honourable Mention, 1975, Klaffi-kilpailu, Finland’s annual best-commercials competition

Credits

Direction
Lemmikki Nenonen and Marjut Rimminen

Get in touch

For festival and screening enquiries, teaching, masterclasses, or correspondence:

marjut.rimminen@gmail.com