Review of Le Havre (2011) by William M — 05 Mar 2012

Finish master Aki Kaurismaki came back to Cannes last year with Le Havre, his second French language film. It's a comic fairytale which defies the time we live in, talking about universal values in a very particular way characteristic for the simplest ways of life. Big part of its charm comes from the direction in which Kaursmaki leads this story. I'm not sure if he believes in it; all I know is that I wanted to, and in a medium like film, so dependable on illusion, that is perhaps the only thing that matters.

The city from the title looks untouched by modern society, both in appearance and spirit. Its inhabitants seem like specimens of some bygone era where everyone knows each other and play their irreplaceable role in the life of the community. There's the grocery store they visit, a bar they drink in and a police inspector they all dread. To put these kinds of people in the context of France's policy towards illegal immigrants is one of the jokes Kaurismaki throws at us. In this day and age where even the rebellion against the authority has become too flashy and commercialized they do it because of the old fashioned reasons - they actually believe they're doing the right thing.

The (anti)-hero is Marcel Marx played by Andre Willis in the performance of the film. He is a shoeshine by occupation, a bohemian by nature and, rightly described by one of the characters, an eternal child, radiating with charm and unfakable class. He is married and we soon realize he was extremely lucky to find someone willing to accept his eccentric personality. When his wife Arletty (Kathy Outinen) falls ill and ends up in a hospital he carries on with his daily routines, unable to even imagine what would happen to him if she died.

At the same time another person enters his life. When local police captures a group of immigrants from Gabon trying to enter the country illegally, one boy manages to escape. His goal is to get to London where his mother is already settled. One thing leads to another and Marcel finds himself helping the boy. Soon, the good people of Le Havre join him. Kaurismaki shows this as the most natural thing in the world. Police inspector Monnet suspect where the boy is hiding, but is not sure himself what to do about it.

In Andre Wilms and Jean-Pierre Daroussin Kaurismaki has found two actors able to strike a perfect note with their characterization of Marcel and Monnet. They are deeply dignified individuals, who find them selves in a situation where they are faced against each other, but are not that different. Like every other person in the film, they accept their role in the small society they live in, perform their duties with necessary dedication and professionalism, but always give out impression there is more to them than their job. The question weather one of them will allow himself to make a "mistake" is very important for the outcome of the story.

This is one of those cases where only one director in the world could make something like this work. Kaurismaki is a true author, who, in this case, uses his characteristic sardonic deadpan inseparable from the low key performances of his actors in bringing to life a town where time seemed to stop long ago, making the people of it, and the protagonist in particular, so defeated by life it somehow never stops being very funny. His usage of source music brings us a classic concert scene with the clear proof that any definition of a rock star's look seems futile.

Le Havre is planned to be the first part of a trilogy, with all of the films set in the port cities. If Kaurismaki succeeds in keeping all of them in this level, he could end up creating something special.