Malena Suffers a Miscarriage

Malena’s miscarriage becomes a crisis for Atu and a turning point in Pirjo’s private calculations. Malena bleeds uncontrollably and is taken to hospital by ambulance; Pirjo is not with her. When Atu tells Pirjo that the miscarriage happened a few hours earlier, he stresses that the situation was serious and that he had needed Pirjo there.

The Emergency and Pirjo’s Absence

Atu recounts the emergency as a terrible day and reproaches Pirjo for not accompanying Malena in the ambulance. Pirjo has only just learned what happened. Her brief question about the miscarriage gives way to silence as she tries to absorb the news, while Atu repeats that Malena had bled uncontrollably and that her condition was serious enough for him to need Pirjo’s help.

Pirjo’s Response

The news redirects Pirjo’s attention from Malena’s immediate suffering to her own relationship with Atu. She wonders whether he has also got her pregnant, then focuses on the possibility that he has fathered Malena’s child. Against the sense that her own fertility is waning and time is passing, she decides inwardly that it should be her child Atu fathers: a successor, and the new savior. The miscarriage thus intensifies her rivalry and her wish to secure a future with him; it does not establish that Pirjo is pregnant. Pirjo tries to keep her reaction neutral. She does not want Atu to read remorse in her expression on Malena’s behalf, and presents herself as upset about the emergency instead. Atu nevertheless tells her that he can feel her energy and that she is not well. The scene closes with him registering her state, while her concealed response remains centered on the child she wants from him.