Aki Kaurismäki has, among other qualities, that of being inconstant. He had promised in 2017 not to touch a camera again, to “go back to living his own life”. Six years later, he was back, presenting Les Feuilles mortes at Cannes. A caustic and tender love story, which smells of alcohol, tobacco and melancholy. The jury, as expected, was sensitive to this return to grace. The Swede Ruben Östlund, its president, also holds him to be one of his favorite Scandinavian directors. The 66-year-old filmmaker, represented by his actors Alma Poysti and Jussi Vatanen, therefore received the jury prize. Twenty-one years after being awarded the Grand Prix for The Man Without a Past. Which had also earned actress Kati Ouninen the prize for female interpretation. In 2016, a new tribute from the Croisette, he received the Carrosse d’or awarded by the Quinzaine des cinéastes.
In Dead Leaves, Nordic melancholy permeates the screen. Ansa is employed in a supermarket under the gaze of a suspicious security guard. Holappa is a worker under the gaze of a fastidious boss. These two loners meet in a karaoke. From failed appointments to setbacks at work, their story unfolds in small steps. Cinephilic winks, eau-de-vie, chain cigarettes, minimalist dialogues… We find the touch of this singular filmmaker, humanist, poetic and funny, whom the Helsinki film school had refused for this reason: “Too cynical”.
Aki Kurismäki learned cinema alone, squatting in the city’s cinematheque. Young, he does odd jobs, from postman to worker. This is where he meets his future characters. Released in 1983, his first film was an adaptation of Crimes and Punishments. He then toured at a steady pace: Shadows in Paradise (1987), Ariel (1988), The Match Girl (1990), Hold Your Scarf, Tatiana (1993). He gives his letters of nobility to the left behind, like a modern-day Chaplin. “I always try to make tragedies, but I don’t know why, it makes the audience laugh. I’m reduced to crying all alone! “, he used to repeat.
The excessive Kurismäki, who for a long time soaked his dark ideas in white wine, made an impression in 2011 with Le Havre, with Jean-Pierre Léaud, Pierre Etaix and André Wilms. A social chronicle filmed in the French port. Same humor in The Other Side of Hope, Silver Bear in Berlin in 2017. An Iraqi refugee there advised one of his companions to smile to succeed in integrating. Because in Finland, he said, they expel those who are sad… The filmmaker ended up finding an explanation for his unalterable taste for comedy: “What would be the point of being pessimistic since all hope is lost? »
