Finnish master Aki Kaurismaki is one of the most important figures in world cinema. His films always tell the tales of simple marginalized working-class people. His recent retro-looking minimalistic deadpan romantic tragicomedy Fallen Leaves is no exception. In the film, two lonely working-class souls Ansa (Alma Poysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) meet at a Karaoke bar for the first time and fall in love. However, their romance goes through multiple ups and downs much like their unstable lives. Both of them are thrown out of their jobs quite a few times. In the end, they reunite and walk away happily. Fallen Leaves is set in bleak, dark, and calm Helsinki, and the same mood is reflected in the daily lives of its characters. Ansa and Holappa look depressed most of the time. However, Kaurismaki binds the story with a touch of comedy. Amid daily struggle and desperation, he also shows hope and optimism. It is a film about common people, their struggle, and a deep longing for love.
Fallen Leaves is a minimalistic romantic tragicomedy. Kaurismaki himself is a man of few words. So, unnecessary emotions and drama are stripped off his films. There is no doubt that the mood of the film is serious. Both Ansa and Holappa struggle to earn their livelihoods. They lose their jobs multiple times. Ansa is insulted when she takes an expired food item from the supermarket where she works. However, there is also a deep sense of romanticism and comedy in the film. Kaurismaki brilliantly weaves both serious and light romantic moods in Fallen Leaves. Holappa and Ansa are in love and can’t stay without each other. When Holappa loses Ansa’s phone number, he keeps coming and waiting outside the cinema for Ansa, and they meet one day. When Ansa loses her job, Holappa buys her a coffee and pastry. When Ansa hears about Holappa’s accident from Huotari, she rushes to the hospital. She keeps visiting and reading something to Holappa to get him out of the coma. Finally, Holappa is released from the hospital and they happily walk away along with Ansa’s dog Chaplin.
Aki Kaurismaki always portrays the lives of marginalized working-class people in his films. So, quite naturally, his films are replete with their struggle and a deep longing for love. In Fallen Leaves, two lonely souls Ansa and Holappa work as daily laborers, get fired from their jobs, lead unstable lives, and struggle to make ends meet. However, they desperately long for love and ultimately find it.
Fallen Leaves carries Kaurismaki’s signature retro style. Even though it was made in 2023, it looks like a film made in the 1960s or 1970s. It does not feature any modern gadgets. The only contemporary event featured in the film is the Russia-Ukraine war, which is heard multiple times on radio. Though the film is bright and colorful, it has a vintage aura. There are many night scenes in the film, which fill it with an abundance of darkness. In Fallen Leaves, Kaurismaki depicts a beautiful and melancholic love story in bleak, dark, and calm Helsinki.
Though there is no background music in Fallen Leaves, Kaurismaki includes multiple background songs that resonate with the theme of the film. However, the most striking song in the film is the live performance of the song Syntynyt suruun ja puettu pettymyksin by the Finnish girl band Maustetytot. Vatanen’s acting during the live performance of the song in the bar adds an enormous depth to the film.
Kaurismaki wrote the short and precise script of Fallen Leaves in just five days and narrated the story to Alma and Jussi over lunch. He instructed them to learn their lines but not to rehearse so that their acting would look natural and spontaneous. Alma and Jussi brilliantly played the characters of Ansa and Holappa. Their acting in Fallen Leaves looks natural, spontaneous, empathetic, restrained, and overall pure Finnish.
Aki Kaurismaki means cinema. In addition to making films, he is also an avid follower of world cinema. In Fallen Leaves, he pays tributes to world masters like Chaplin, Godard, David Lean, Luchino Visconti, and Jim Jarmusch. Alma and Jussi watch Jarmusch’s zombie film Dead Don’t Die in a theater. Viewers can see posters of Godard’s Pierrot le Fou, Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, and David Lean’s Brief Encounter. Ansa’s dog’s name is Chaplin. When Jussi is released from the hospital, Ansa and Jussi walk away happily like in the final scene of Chaplin’s Modern Times. World masters will always influence cinephiles like Kaurismaki who is considered one of the most well-known filmmakers in the world.
The title of the film Fallen Leaves has much significance to it. Trees shed unnecessary leaves to live long. Kaurismaki compares Ansa and Holappa with fallen leaves as if they are unnecessary to society. They are daily laborers, get thrown out of their jobs multiple times, and struggle to make ends meet. Both are drifted away here and there in the whirlpool of modern Finnish society. Their existences seem to be trivial, meaningless, and unnecessary. So, they appear to be fallen leaves.
In the final scene of Fallen Leaves, Kaurismaki pays a heartfelt tribute to Charlie Chaplin. One great filmmaker pays tribute to one of the greatest artists of all time. Chaplin’s immortal character the Little Tramp was always hopeful amid adversities. In Modern Times, the Little Tramp walks away with Ellen to a brighter future. In Fallen Leaves too, two marginalized working-class lovers Ansa and Holappa walk away happily to a brighter future. Like Chaplin, Kaurismaki portrays the lives of downtrodden but optimistic people.