Aki Kaurismäki’s return blends his usual dry and deadpan wit with a poignant romantic comedy
Published : 15 Feb 2024, 08:24 PM
Love Scenes is a column recommending movies with intriguing takes on love and romance for the week of Valentine’s Day.
Sometimes it all gets to be too much. Events pile on themselves with reckless abandon and we are tossed about by the winds of fate.
It can be tragic, but there is, on occasion, a hint of humour to it. And sometimes all you can do is laugh.
This is, of course, one of the primary modes favoured by Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki who made his much-anticipated return to art houses with the recent Fallen Leaves, a poignant romantic comedy suffused with the director’s signature deadpan humour.
Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) are two star-crossed working class souls. Their meeting and its vibrant spark of excitement and connection stands out against the loneliness of their lives. But their courtship isn’t easy. In fact it’s a veritable obstacle course with inconvenience and complication at every turn.
Despite all the potential for melancholy, Fallen Leaves remains hopeful. Instead of wallowing in cliché, it aims for genuine uplift.
There’s a fairy tale allure to Ansa and Hollapa’s relentless pursuit of each other despite all that stands in their way. It is love as an act of defiance in the face of global calamity and contemporary crises.
The impact of war, the ravages of late capitalism and the widespread erosion of empathy can be seen throughout the film, but our central couple refuse to let it completely define their lives.
The film’s retro aesthetic gives it a timeless quality that, somehow, makes it feel even more urgent and relevant. Audiences may be drawn in by Kaurismäki’s wry wit or the sweetness of the central romance, but what lingers is the sense of enduring warmth and hopeful resilience.
It is a manifesto to the indomitable spirit of love in an uncertain world. And, perhaps, it serves as a reminder to all whose Valentine’s Days did not go to plan – there’s always next year.
This article is part of Stripe, bdnews24.com's special publication focusing on culture and society from a youth perspective.