LE HAVRE
****
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Screenwriter: Aki Kaurismäki
Principal cast:
André Wilms
Blondin Miguel
Kati Outinen
Jeanne-Pierre Darroussin
Elina Salo
Little Bob
Country: Finland/France
Classification: PG
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 29 March 2012
After a three-year hiatus, Le Havre is a welcome return to the silver screen by Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismäki. He is, however, credited for a number of producer/writer gigs during the interim. Working with long-time collaborator, cinematographer Timo Linnasalo (who also edited the film), Kaurismäki has set his story in the port city of Le Havre, so French, not Finnish, is the language spoken in the film.
Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms, who has also previously worked with Kaurismäki), is an ageing shoe-shine man who works in the streets of the tough town. Times are hard and it seems that the locals are too; Marcel gets booted out of shop doorways and moved on regularly by the authorities. One day he comes across a young African boy, Idrissa (Blondin Miguel), who has eluded the immigration authorities after being discovered in a container dumped on the docks, the result of a computer error.
When Marcel’s doting wife Arletty (Kati Outinen), winds up in hospital with a life-threatening condition, Marcel extends the hand of friendship to the young refugee. There are wonderful characters throughout the film who help Marcel conceal the boy from the immigration authorities; even local copper Monet (Jeanne-Pierre Darroussin), resplendent in a black trench coat and hat, isn’t as bad as he first seems. But someone in the ‘hood is white-anting Marcel’s best efforts.
We are in the bowels of a working-class neighbourhood where nobody has much money so, in order to raise funds for Idrissa, the locals band together to put on a charity concert. Roberto Piazza (Little Bob - an old rocker), is the star attraction and he pulls in quite a crowd. The rest you have to see for yourself, but suffice to say Le Havre is a great story, full of pathos, but at no time does it get mawkish or sentimental.
I suspect that Kaurismäki is a fan of ‘40s Hollywood film noir and ‘50s melodrama, a la the films of Douglas Sirk, both genres heavily dependent on lighting - every frame of this film is lit like an impressionist painting. Coupled with really fine performances, this makes Le Havre an absolute gem. To the couple who walked out of the preview audience, what were you thinking? Perhaps you were bored as there was not a car chase, a sex scene or a gun-toting hero. However, there were great characters, beautiful sets and in true Kaurismäki form, enough quirkiness to keep you riveted for 93 minutes.
Screenwriter: Aki Kaurismäki
Principal cast:
André Wilms
Blondin Miguel
Kati Outinen
Jeanne-Pierre Darroussin
Elina Salo
Little Bob
Country: Finland/France
Classification: PG
Runtime: 93 mins.
Australian release date: 29 March 2012
After a three-year hiatus, Le Havre is a welcome return to the silver screen by Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismäki. He is, however, credited for a number of producer/writer gigs during the interim. Working with long-time collaborator, cinematographer Timo Linnasalo (who also edited the film), Kaurismäki has set his story in the port city of Le Havre, so French, not Finnish, is the language spoken in the film.
Marcel Marx (Andre Wilms, who has also previously worked with Kaurismäki), is an ageing shoe-shine man who works in the streets of the tough town. Times are hard and it seems that the locals are too; Marcel gets booted out of shop doorways and moved on regularly by the authorities. One day he comes across a young African boy, Idrissa (Blondin Miguel), who has eluded the immigration authorities after being discovered in a container dumped on the docks, the result of a computer error.
When Marcel’s doting wife Arletty (Kati Outinen), winds up in hospital with a life-threatening condition, Marcel extends the hand of friendship to the young refugee. There are wonderful characters throughout the film who help Marcel conceal the boy from the immigration authorities; even local copper Monet (Jeanne-Pierre Darroussin), resplendent in a black trench coat and hat, isn’t as bad as he first seems. But someone in the ‘hood is white-anting Marcel’s best efforts.
We are in the bowels of a working-class neighbourhood where nobody has much money so, in order to raise funds for Idrissa, the locals band together to put on a charity concert. Roberto Piazza (Little Bob - an old rocker), is the star attraction and he pulls in quite a crowd. The rest you have to see for yourself, but suffice to say Le Havre is a great story, full of pathos, but at no time does it get mawkish or sentimental.
I suspect that Kaurismäki is a fan of ‘40s Hollywood film noir and ‘50s melodrama, a la the films of Douglas Sirk, both genres heavily dependent on lighting - every frame of this film is lit like an impressionist painting. Coupled with really fine performances, this makes Le Havre an absolute gem. To the couple who walked out of the preview audience, what were you thinking? Perhaps you were bored as there was not a car chase, a sex scene or a gun-toting hero. However, there were great characters, beautiful sets and in true Kaurismäki form, enough quirkiness to keep you riveted for 93 minutes.