Falling for ‘Fallen Leaves’
Director Aki Kaurismäki’s latest is a love story, of sorts, set in Helsinki
If I were to describe the plot of “Fallen Leaves,” the new Finnish-language feature by acclaimed filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, it would sound so depressing that I’d probably drive you away. Indeed, this tragicomic love story has bleak moments. It deals with addiction, loneliness, dead-end jobs, poverty, and depression.
The two main characters, grocery store clerk Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and construction worker Holappa (Jussi Vatanen), struggle to maintain some semblance of a day-to-day existence. Holappa finds too much solace in a liquor bottle, and Ansa is a bit of a loner whose desire to help those less fortunate is about to get her fired. Neither thinks romance is in the cards, and the gloomy weather does little to lighten one’s disposition.
Plus, the music on the soundtrack is rife with miserable lyrics. And whenever a radio is turned on, it plays an endless stream of news reports about the war in Ukraine.
Sounds pretty downbeat, right?
And yet, this film is so damn funny, and not in a laugh-out-loud way, though there are some of those moments, too. The humor in a Kaurismäki film is deadpan; it sneaks up on you and always tells you something about the characters. A comic situation can build from scene to scene, subtly earning chuckles while setting up a bigger laugh much later.
“Fallen Leaves” is also quite romantic, but, again, don’t go into this film expecting the typical story beats. There are no meet-cutes or steamy couplings. At a Q&A I attended after seeing this film, Pöysti said that Kaurismäki told his actors he had written a love story where the couple shares one chaste kiss and a lot of conversation. Even so, Pöysti and Vatanen have incredible chemistry together, and their characters lingered with me for a long while.
We’re immersed in the lives and habits of Ansa and Holappa, both together but mostly separate. Keeping potential lovers apart is par for the course in this genre, though Kaurismäki’s way of doing so is never contrived. By observing Ansa and Holappa by themselves, we learn who they are. As a result, we can believe that neither of them would get the other’s name on their first date. We can also believe that an accidentally lost phone number could generate such palpable “will they or won’t they meet again?” suspense.
The Helsinki community tends to gather either at a karaoke bar or at the cinema, two places where people can let off steam or try to forget what a dreadful day they’ve been having at work. And nobody’s having a good day in this movie, not even the cute dog that will steal your heart. (Don’t worry, nothing bad happens to the pup.)
“Tough guys don’t sing,” says Holappa to his friend Huotari (Janne Hyytiainen), who has just failed to pick up Ansa’s friend Liisa (Nuppu Koivu). Huotari proves him wrong by singing a popular — and very depressing — song. Meanwhile, Holappa and Ansa exchange furtive glances and nothing more.
Later, the two unexpectedly meet again and Holappa invites Ansa to the movies. They see Jim Jarmusch’s awful 2019 zombie splatter comedy, “The Dead Don’t Die,” an intriguing choice considering that Jarmusch and Kaurismäki have a similar comic rhythm to their films. Because of that similarity, one cannot help but think Kaurismäki’s choice of a first-date movie was intentional.
The director’s symbolic cinematic intent is far more blatant in a later scene when he places a poster of David Lean’s 1945 tearjerker, “Brief Encounter,” between Ansa and Holeppa as they stand outside the theater. If you’ve seen Lean’s film, you’ll know why I gasped when I saw that poster. (If you haven’t seen “Brief Encounter,” you now have a homework assignment.)
In a year of movies with bloated runtimes, Kaurismäki keeps his at a brisk and welcome 81 minutes, not one of which is wasted.
Though it remains rooted in the uncertainties of reality, “Fallen Leaves” never lets the audience doubt that Ansa and Holappa won’t find some way to be together. There’s no happily ever after — this isn’t a fairy tale — but they still walk off into the sunset together, leaving us to hope for the best.