'Fallen Leaves' Review: Lonely Lovers in the Unforgiving World [TIFF 2023]
Kaurismäki’s return to the screen, a quiet tragicomedy, is a must-watch this season. this simple story touches your heart through the love of two flawed characters looking for someone to share their lives with.
Aki Kaurismäki, Finland’s most well-known director, has created 20 feature-length films, and been awarded countless prizes to celebrate the quality of his filmmaking, including a Silver Bear, a Cannes Grand Prix, and numerous Jussi Awards (Finland’s equivalent of the Oscars). His most recent feature, Fallen Leaves, is his first in five years, and has already been awarded the Cannes Jury Prize. This film was selected as one of TIFF’s Centrepiece titles, bringing it to Canada for its premiere.
Kaurismäki is an auteur, often personally directing, producing, writing, and editing his films, and is known for his minimalistic style. Fallen Leaves is no exception, with Kaurismäki directing, writing, and co-producing this feature. This film exists as a continuation of his Proletariat trilogy, creating a series out of the original three movies all centreing around working class characters (Shadows in Paradise, Ariel, and The Match Factory Girl). While this collection was intended to finish in 1990 with the last installment, over 30 years later Kaurismäki decided to add this similarly focused title. Overlooking theme, this is a great choice, as it inspires new cinephiles and casual TIFF goers to delve into his filmography and be treated to three fantastic films.
Fallen Leaves tells a simple story, following two quiet, solitary protagonists as they struggle in their professional lives and hesitantly fall in love. The film stars Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen as Ansa and Holappa, respectively. Viewers only meet these characters through single names, Ansa only introduced as a first name and Holappa only known as his last name, even to those closest to him. They work dead-end jobs, trying to make ends meet, and go home to a bed that only they will sleep in. At the beginning of the film, they both seem content to continue life this way – work, eat (when the microwaveable food doesn’t spoil), and sleep – until they happen to run into each other at a karaoke bar. The viewer joins their next meetings, watching their relationship develop and change into an unadorned love story.
Fallen Leaves draws more than a few parallels to the first film of the Proletariat trilogy, Shadows in Paradise, following two lonely lovers as they work to survive (and another secret first name). While the series is not related through characters or plot, the four films are thematically similar, and when consumed together, intensify the effects.
The film is set in current day, evident if only through radio snippets the main characters listen to throughout the film, where news of the Russia-Ukraine war is endlessly reported. While the characters struggle with their own loneliness, addiction, and poverty, it’s almost a normalized feeling, fitting in with the unrest and suffering ever present in the rest of the world. Does your heartache matter when there are people being held hostage and killed? Or does it matter more – does the state of the world leave you even more damaged without someone to share it with? Ansa cannot help but turn on the radio at any chance but can only listen for a few minutes before she can’t help but turn it off. As a viewer, you can only hope for her happiness, even if fleeting.
Despite the seemingly sombre narrative, this film is funny, poking good-natured fun at the characters and the world around them. Janne Hyytiäinen, playing Holappa’s older friend Huotari, is a perfect source of comedy, balancing some more sombre moments with quips about his troubles with women and his obsession with age. This film is tender and sweet, despite the dark themes that surround Ansa and Holappa, personally and in the world around them. With an achingly short runtime of 81 minutes, this deadpan tragicomedy shouldn’t be missed.