‘Fallen Leaves,’ humor, romance and nostalgia in the new tale from Aki Kaurismäki

Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki seems to invoke his characters and scenes from another era. And yet, his films resemble timeless, enduring fables. Fallen Leaves, his most recent movie that brought him back from the retirement he announced in 2017, tells the story of Ansa and Holppa, two solitary individuals who meet by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first, last and only loves of their lives. The road towards this worthy goal is clouded by the man’s alcoholism, lost telephone numbers, not knowing each other’s names or addresses, and fate’s love of putting obstacles in the way of those seeking happiness.

The Finn’s new film takes place in the universe of his so-called proletariat trilogy, formed by Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988) and The Match Factory Girl (1990). Autumn Leaves sees protagonists Alma Pöysti (Helsinki, 42 years old) and Jussi Vatanen (Sonkajärvi, 45 years old) star in a comedy full of tenderness and a luminous nostalgia. The film takes place in 2024, but hints at the 1970s or ‘80s with an obvious anachronism, which is on display in details like an analog radio in a pub, where people listen to the news from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“For actors, it’s great that many of the scenes are quite tragic, but at the same time, they can be funny. I guess that’s how it is in life as well. Even though your life can be miserable, there’s still something funny about it,” says Vatanen on a videocall with his co-star. “I guess humor is kind of a basic force that helps you get through the day in life, and especially in the lives of Kaurismäki’s characters,” says Pöysti.

Kaurismäki is well-known as a lover of film. Even when he’s crafting a portrait of the devastation of war, capitalism’s ruthlessness and the isolation of contemporary life, one of the movie’s central themes is how movies and the love of the seventh art plays a role for these characters, in their lives and relationships. In some films, that might seem like a superficial gimmick, but Pöysti says that in Autumn Leaves, it comes from a deeper place.

“There is nothing elitist in the way that Kaurismäki does it. It’s as if in some way he was carrying on a dialogue with his cinematographic gods. He’s winking at Chaplin, Godard and Jim Jarmusch. But he’s including all of us. It comes from a very passionate, and I guess, loving and very respectful place. It’s like the whole film is full of these hidden gems. And some of them you’ll understand and some of them you might not. But it’s not something that limits you from enjoying the film,” the actress says.

“Chaplin is still the best, he kept it simple,” the Finnish director said in an interview in Cannes, where the movie was awarded the Jury Prize. Regarded as a master of self-control, with “short but meaningful sentences”, the director of Shadows in Paradise put his protagonists to the test with Autumn Leaves’s minimalist script, requesting that they not rehearse beforehand, and only do one take per scene. Vatanen says that “it was very easy” to trust Kaurismäki, given that when the actor was seven or eight years old, the director had already presented work at Cannes.

Pöysti admits that at first, the lack of rehearsal and challenge presented by getting it right on one take was “quite terrifying.” She remembers him telling them, “If you make a mistake, we can do two takes. If it is a disaster, you can do three.” Of course, Kaurismäki was joking, but it was also true. With this task looming, the actress set aside time to watch all of his films, not only because she wanted to feel a connection with the long chain of his filmography, which has already reached a total of 20 films. Like her co-star, she agrees on the importance of the “art of trust.”

“The quality you get with that single shot is extraordinary, because they become so precious. The moments stand out and become extremely honest and pure. And at least what I learned is that when you repeat something, there’s that little layer of pretending that it never happened. And if you manage to capture it in one shot, you get very raw and honest moments. And you really start to love it. You become obsessed with capturing those moments, chasing them and getting it right. I guess I went from being a little terrified to absolutely loving every layer of work,” Pöysti says.

Autumn Leaves is available in selected cinemas and is streaming on the Mubi platform.

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