Tove attempts to illustrate Swedish-speaking Finnish artist Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, a fantasy series that features eccentric and distinctly shaped characters, which inspired a cult following. The thing is, little time is devoted to detailing her artistic pursuits as a young painter struggling to find success during the tail end of World War II in Helsinki. Instead, the film follows Jansson’s (Alma Pöysti) romantic relationships as they progress over a decade. The two long-term affairs, one with affluent theater director Vivica Bandler (Krista Kosonen) and one with leftist philosopher Atos Wirtanen (Shanti Roney), provide the biopic with a soft sense of drama as Jansson goes back and forth between the more reliable Wirtanen and the ever-elusive Bandler. While this does a disservice to Jansson’s legacy, mostly brushing aside her memorable body of work in favor of her romances, it still makes for a beautiful portrait of desire and despair.