Le Havre

by Aki Kaurismäki

Le Havre

Synopsis

Marcel Marx, a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre, where he feels he has reached a closer rapport with the people serving them in the occupation of the honourable, but not too profitable, of a shoe-shiner. He has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and lives happily within the triangle of his favourite bar, his work, and his wife Arletty, when fate suddenly throws in his path an underage immigrant refugee from the darkest Africa.

As Arletty at the same time gets seriously ill and is bedridden, Marcel once more has to rise against the cold wall of human indifference with his only weapon of innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of the people of his quartier, but against him stands the whole blind machinery of the Western constitutionally governed state, this time represented by the dragnet of the police, moment by moment drawing closer around the refugee boy.

It’s time for Marcel to polish his shoes and reveal his teeth.

Director

Aki Kaurismäki, writer, director, editor and producer. Born in Finland 4.4.1957, but...

Films as a director:

1981
»The Saimaa Gesture«
(Co-Dir. with Mika Kaurismäki)

1983
»Crime And Punishment«

1985
»Calamari Union«

1986
»Shadows In Paradise«
»Rocky VI« (Short)

1987
»Hamlet Goes Business«
»Thru The Wire« (Short)
»L.A.Woman« (Short)
»Rich Little Bitch« (Short)

1988
»Ariel«

1989
»Leningrad Cowboys Go America«
»Dirty Hands« (TV Film)

1990
»The Match Factory Girl«
»I Hired A Contract Killer«

1991
»Those Were The Days« (Short)
»These Boots« (Short)

1992
»La Vie De Boheme«

1993
»Total Balalaika Show - Helsinki Concert« (Documentary)

1994
»Take Care Of Your Scarf - Tatjana«
»Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses«

1996
»Drifting Clouds«

1998
»Juha«

2002
»The Man Without A Past«, »Dogs Have No Hell« (Short)

2004
»Bico« (Short)

2006
»Lights In The Dusk«

2011
»Le Havre«

Cast

André Wilms
Kati Outinen
Blondin Miguel
Laika
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Elina Salo
Quoc-Dung Nguyen
Evelyne Didi
Pierre Étaix
Jean-Pierre Léaud

Crew

Written and Directed by: Aki Kaurismäki
Director of Photography: Timo Salminen
Production designer: Wouter Zoon
Lighting: Olli Varja
Costume Designer: Fred Cambier
Make-up artist: Valéry Thery-Hamel
Sound designer: Tero Malmberg
Editor: Timo Linnasalo
Assistant Director: Gilles Charmant
Producers: Aki Kaurismäki, Fabienne Vonier, Pyramide International, Reinhard Brundig.
A production of: Sputnik Oy, Pyramide International, Pandora Film Produktion
In co-production with: ARTE France Cinéma, ZDF/Arte

With the pariticipation of The Finnish Film Foundation, CANAL+, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, CNC, YLE Coproductions, CINÉCINÉMA, ARTE France, la Région Haute-Normandie.

Technical Data

Format: 35mm / 1:1.85 / Colour
Length: 93 Min.
Original Language: French

Original title: Le Havre

Artwork

Click here for the »Le Havre« artwork

Downloads

Le Havre
Le Havre

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