Film Review: Fallen Leaves is grim and restrained - but ultimately heart-warming

The winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, Fallen Leaves (12A) is the Finnish entry for next year’s Academy Awards.

Ansa (Alma Pöysti) works a series of low-paid jobs in the grottier corners of Helsinki, returning alone to her bedsit every night to listen to syrupy, sentimental old love songs on the radio.

Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) isn’t faring much better. A self-proclaimed ‘tough guy’ who works on building sites, he is depressed because he drinks too much, and drinks too much because he’s depressed.

Hardly the classic elements of a rom-com, you might think, but it’s from its downbeat, ironically grim tone that Fallen Leaves mines its peculiar charm.

Written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki as the latest instalment in his ‘Proletariat’ series of films that began with Shadows in Paradise (1986), Fallen Leaves won’t be to everyone’s taste, but Pöysti and Vatanen are brilliantly restrained, and ultimately heart-warming, in what is likely the most unconventional love story you’ll see all year.