Character Relationship Map: Three Wise Men

Characters

• Erkki (played by Kari Heiskanen) — protagonist

  Erkki is one of three longtime friends who reunite in Finland after years apart. During their night of drinking, he takes part in frank discussions about careers, love, parenthood, regret, betrayal, a...

• Matti (played by Pertti Sveholm) — supporting

  Matti is one of the three old friends whose reunion drives the main narrative. He spends the night drinking and confronting difficult truths about family, absent parenthood, responsibility, and person...

• Rauno (played by Timo Torikka) — supporting

  Rauno is one of three friends who meet again after many years and spend the night discussing the lives they have built. Their conversation covers love, careers, parenthood, guilt, betrayal, and termin...

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Matti → Rauno (Social Old Friend) — Matti and Rauno maintain a deep friendship shaped by their shared past.

  The three men reunite after many years, drink together, and remember their shared youth.

• Erkki → Rauno (Social Old Friend) — Erkki and Rauno are members of the same old friendship circle.

  Erkki, Matti, and Rauno reunite after many years and openly discuss careers, love, parenthood, and regret.

• Erkki → Matti (Social Old Friend) — Erkki and Matti share a long-standing friendship renewed through the reunion.

  Erkki, Matti, and Rauno reunite after many years and spend the night together, recalling their youth and discussing their lives.

Story Analysis

Three old friends confront family distance, guilt, betrayal, fatherhood, and impending death during an emotionally destructive Christmas reunion.

Plot Progression

1. Christmas Interruptions — A domestic argument about traditions and a frozen ham ends when Magdaleena goes into labor. A separate family crisis involves a returning father, a hospitalized mother, a grave, and a nursing home.
2. Old Friends Reconnect — Erkki, Matti, and Rauno reunite after many years and drink together. Their memories lead into discussions of careers, relationships, parenthood, and lives divided by distance.
3. Grief Breaks Through — The friends’ intimate conversation is shattered by the revelation of a former wife's suicide. Guilt, a blaming note, and a child's accusation force them to support the grieving man.
4. Violence Behind Honesty — The promise of honesty produces a murderous confession and an accusation of adultery. Pregnancy, fatherhood, and threatened access to a child turn the reunion into a confrontation.
5. The Final Diagnosis — A final revelation exposes that the ill man has stopped radiotherapy and is dying. The three men are left facing betrayal, guilt, fatherhood, illness, and irreversible truth.