Love is a universal language that can be spoken with physicality, a whisper, an outburst, or in a deadpan manner — which is the case of Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves. The style delivery of dialogue won’t deter you from sinking into this simple love story of two people getting through the redundancy of life in Helsinki. This modern-day story is layered with melancholy, from radio news bullets chronicling the Ukraine war to songs that portray a longing for a fuller existence. On one side, you have Ansa (Alma Pöysti), a supermarket clerk devoted to the same daily cadence ending back at her cozy apartment.
She doesn’t know it yet, but Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) will be just the guy to add a little spark to that routine. He could use it as a construction worker whose excessive drinking causes him problems and gets him kicked off jobs. Sure, they have little in common, but a chance encounter at a karaoke bar helps them get in sight of one another. Holappa plays it cool, going off to the side of the bar to smoke a cigarette. Despite this, he can’t keep his gaze away from Ansa and likewise on her part. The unspoken parts of this potential union make it work; then fate steps in to do its thing.
While Kaurismäki’s tale of two people unexpectedly finding themselves in a romantic entanglement is straightforward, he doesn’t make it particularly easy for them. For one, Ansa has to keep looking for jobs after losing them through no fault of her own. At the supermarket, a boss unjustly accuses her of stealing and fires her (for the high crime of giving expired food to a homeless person). Then, at a following gig, that boss gets carted away by the police for selling drugs on the low. It’s a sweet comedy of errors and uncertainty where Fallen Leaves keeps its tempo. At least early on, both Holappa and Ansa happen to run into each other. They get coffee together and then go to a movie. Funny enough, it’s the zombie bonanza, The Dead Don’t Die (a real winning pick by Holappa). As simple as things could be, it wouldn’t be a budding love story without a bit of opposition.
It’s nothing too out of the ordinary, but at first, it feels as if things keep getting in the way. An exchanged number on a piece of paper falls out of a wallet, and Holappa and Ansa don’t speak for a while. When they do come back together, things move forward, but Holappa’s affinity for alcohol starts to wane things down. Alcoholism is no laughing manner for Alsa as she expresses she’s lost members of her family to the disease. However, Holappa is as stubborn as ever and walks off from a quiet dinner date at her apartment in a tantrum. Aside from the use of dialogue, the physical presence of both Pöysti and Vatanen beautifully illustrates longing, affection, and regret on Holappa’s part.
Along with their great chemistry, they do so much with simple premises, like sitting alone on a train or contemplating decisions pensively at the bar that shines through. You can deduce what will happen in how this delightfully breezy 81-minute feature moves. But Kaurismäki doesn’t provide the quintessential “go get her” epiphany like in other romantic comedies. Fallen Leaves has its way of going about it —which is why it will stand out in your mind. Life can shake things up when you’re not looking for it. While love feels like a big concept, Kaurismäki manages to construct it in a small space with a payoff worth the ride.
Photo Credit: Malla Hukkanen /Sputnik
