One Foot Under

One Foot Under

Year: 2009

Runtime: 101 mins

Language: Finnish

Director: Johanna Vuoksenmaa

DramaComedy

Visa Vuorio, a 35‑year‑old team leader in Helsinki’s city gardening department, has been diagnosed with a terminal neurological disease and given only months to live. He attends a therapeutic support group for those facing terminal illness. His routine is upended when young reporter Hanna Manninen joins the group, proposing to chronicle his story in a series of articles, prompting Visa to confront his remaining time.

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Timeline & Setting – One Foot Under (2009)

Explore the full timeline and setting of One Foot Under (2009). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Helsinki, Copenhagen, Porvoo

Helsinki provides the urban Finnish backdrop where Visa works and the support group scenes unfold. Copenhagen serves as a romantic turn in the story, where Visa and Hanna's feelings first blossom. Porvoo appears in a pivotal moment, underscoring social rituals like weddings and confrontations. Together, these places anchor the film's rhythm of daily life, romance, and personal crisis.

🏙️ Helsinki 🗺️ Copenhagen 🏡 Porvoo

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 17:15

Main Characters – One Foot Under (2009)

Meet the key characters of One Foot Under (2009), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Visa Vuorio (Tobias Zilliacus)

Visa is a 35-year-old team leader at the Helsinki city gardening department who learns he has a terminal neurological disease. A mix-up reveals he is actually healthy, but he hides this to maintain the narrative around his life and to keep Hanna and Riia from being shocked. He is driven by a need for connection and a fear of losing meaning, which leads him to manipulate how his story is told. His secret keeps him investing in the relationships that matter most, even as it endangers them.

💼 🧭 ❤️

Hanna Manninen (Helena Vierikko)

Hanna is a young reporter who arrives at Visa's support group to write a feature and ends up forming a complicated romance with him. She blends professional curiosity with genuine empathy, navigating the line between documenting a life story and living one of her own. Her feelings are tested by Visa's confession and the evolving dynamic between love, truth, and manipulation. She seeks authenticity even as she is pulled into a public narrative.

📝 💖 🕊️

Riia (Susanna Anteroinen)

Riia is Visa's girlfriend and a stabilizing presence who believes in supporting him through fear and uncertainty. She becomes entangled in the consequences of Visa's deception as she tries to understand the truth behind his stories. Her loyalty is tested when secrets surface, forcing her to renegotiate trust and commitment. She embodies the personal stakes of choosing honesty within a fragile relationship.

💑 🧩 🕊️

Harri (Jarkko Pajunen)

Harri is Visa's best friend, loyal but conflicted, and secretly in love with Riia. He knows about Visa's deception and becomes a conflicted ally who must decide how far to go to protect those he cares about. His own unspoken feelings add tension to the circle of friends as the truth looms. He represents the cost of hidden affection and the struggle between honesty and comfort.

💬 🧭 💔

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 17:15

Major Themes – One Foot Under (2009)

Explore the central themes of One Foot Under (2009), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

💔 Romance

Visa and Hanna's bond develops during their journey to Copenhagen, offering a fragile beacon of hope amid looming illness. Their interactions are braided with unspoken feelings and the desire for genuine connection. The posturing of illness and the fear of vulnerability add tension to their budding romance. The film uses their relationship to explore how love can bloom under extraordinary circumstances, even when the truth remains partly hidden.

🤫 Truth

Deception becomes the engine of the plot after a hospital mix-up reveals Visa is healthy. He decides not to tell Hanna or Riia to preserve the experience of being cared for as someone fragile. The moment of truth arrives in staged moments—a hospital escape, a wedding confrontation—forcing choices between honesty and protection. The theme probes the ethics of truth-telling and its consequences on trust and relationships.

🎭 Facade

Appearances mask deeper realities as Visa plays the role of a gravely ill man to sustain the narrative of his life. The support group and public attention turn identity into performance, with friends and lovers reacting to the story projected onto him. As the truth surfaces, characters confront what they want to believe versus what is true. The film uses this facade to question how much of a life is crafted for others and how much is sincerely felt.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 17:15

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One Foot Under Summary

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One Foot Under Summary

One Foot Under Timeline

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One Foot Under Timeline

One Foot Under Spoiler-Free Summary

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One Foot Under Spoiler-Free Summary

More About One Foot Under

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One Foot Under (2009) Plot Summary & Movie Recap

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