FC Venus

2005 1h 53m FI

😐

5.4

MID

★5.4TMDB · 47

ComedyRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Pete is a football enthusiast, who plays as a goalkeeper for FC HeMan, a team playing in the lowest possible league. His girlfriend, Anna, hates the whole sport. Pete and his teammates are planning to travel to watch the Football World Cup held in Germany. Anna is not excited about Pete's plan to leave her alone for the summer. Therefore Anna decides to present a challenge to Pete: She will form a team from the wives and girlfriends of the FC HeMan players, and then the women's team (FC Venus) would play against FC HeMan. If the women's team wins, the men will have to give up football, and if the men's team wins, the women will never complain about their hobby.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Minna Haapkylä
Anna
Petteri Summanen
Pete
Laura Malmivaara
Carita
Taneli Mäkelä
Lauri
Lotta Lehtikari
Mara
Miia Nuutila
Katariina
Noora Peltokukka
Sari
Hannu-Pekka Björkman
Simo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joona Tena
Writers: Joona Tena, Outi Keskevaari, Katri Manninen
Languages: Finnish
Countries: Finland

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 21 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joona Tena, shot by Jarkko T. Laine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Sakari Salli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jukka Nykänen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Minna Haapkylä and Petteri Summanen and Laura Malmivaara carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0453365 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joona Tena directs. Jarkko T. Laine behind the camera. Sakari Salli scores. Jukka Nykänen cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Finland. Dialogue in Finnish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Released 21 years ago.
3Directed by Joona Tena, shot by Jarkko T. Laine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Sakari Salli. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Jukka Nykänen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Minna Haapkylä and Petteri Summanen and Laura Malmivaara carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt0453365 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jarkko T. Laine
Original score: Sakari Salli
Editing: Jukka Nykänen
Production design: Pentti Valkeasuo
Costume design: Auli Turtiainen-Kinnunen
Makeup / hair: Hannele Herttua
Sound: Tuomas Järnefelt
Stunt coordinator: Reijo Kontio
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Status: Released
Budget: $2,196,531
Box office: $2,411,594
Return: 110% of budget
Original language: FI
Certification (US): 6
IMDB: FC Venus (2005)

Also by

Joona Tena

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

karip2026-04-18
★ 5/10
I watched this twenty years after its release, which probably gave it some nostalgic credit. It is not a bad film, and most of the actors, especially Taneli Mäkelä, deliver better performances than I expected. Unfortunately, the story never felt believable or consistent enough to work as genuinely good drama. And if a film cannot make its characters and events feel true, then it needs something else to carry it, something wild, funny, unsettling, or haunting. This one never quite gets there either, so it ends up stuck in between.

Production companies