Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki is known for his droll humor that’s mixed with feelings of melancholy, nostalgia, and romance. His latest, “Fallen Leaves” (2023, original name: Kuolleet lehdet), is a pure love story comprising Kaurismaki’s signature aesthetic tropes, with the filmmaker championing the fleeting moments of love amidst turbulent times. In his usual whimsical deadpan manner. “Fallen Leaves” speaks of war, the troubles of the working class, and cinema. But, in its heart, it is about love and how it is never too late to take a shot at it.
Fallen Leaves (2023) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) are two equally lonely souls. Both of them are in between jobs. When Ansa is losing jobs due to the ineptitude of her employers, Holappa is doing the same due to his depression-fueled alcoholism. After a tiring day’s work with unsympathetic superiors, both Holappa and Ansa come to a local pub with their respective colleague-friends, Huotari (Janne Hyytiäinen) and Liisa (Nuppu Koivu). Huotari, with his Karaoke-singing extroverted personality, tries to charm Liisa but fails. While Holappa and Ansa exchange furtive glances. This is their first encounter.
Their next encounter comes when Ansa loses her job at the pub due to the pub owner getting arrested for dealing drugs. As fate will have it, Holappa also arrives at the pub when Ansa sees the pub getting closed. They catch each others’ eyes and, this time, engage in small talk. He insists on taking her for a cup of coffee and some food, seeing her losing her source of income. They finish their ‘date’ by visiting the local cinema theater and watching Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die.”
This could easily have yielded their third encounter if not for Holappa’s carelessness. He loses the piece of paper where Ansa wrote her phone number. That being the only piece of information about Ansa, Holappa has no chance of communicating with her. Meanwhile, he loses another job due to drinking while working. He waits by the cinema theater, hoping Ansa will come there one day. And it works. Ansa, who thought Holappa ‘ghosted’ her, is pleasantly surprised to know that is not the case. They arrange the next meeting at Ansa’s flat, where she prepares a nice dinner for them.
This third encounter does not end well, as Ansa finds Holappa going for a drink now and then. She tells him about the male members of her family losing their lives due to alcohol. As a result, she has a low tolerance for alcoholics. Holappa, refusing to let go of his ego, leaves the house, saying he will not be ordered about. Heartbroken, each of them tries to find solace in their individual ways. While Holappa succumbs to more drinking, Ansa adopts an abandoned dog.
Fallen Leaves (2023) Movie Ending Explained and Theme Analyzed:
Are Holappa and Ansa Finally Together?
As if suddenly hit by a frying pan, Holappa starts to contemplate his drinking ways. It is evident that he struggles to let go of drinking. But, it becomes clear that he has fallen for Ansa. So, one day he decides to become sober and stick to his job. He calls Ansa informing her about his sober status. He tells her that he has done it for her. Ansa, who also missed him, asks him to come to her house. Holappa leaves but, in his excitement, does not notice the incoming train while crossing the tracks.
Ansa thinks Holappa ‘ghosted’ her one more time. After a few days, she meets Huotari while walking the dog. From Huotari, she learns about Holappa’s train accident. Huotari tells her that Holappa is in a coma. Ansa visits Holappa in the hospital. And continues to do so, reading random magazines and news to the comatose Holappa. Finally, Holappa wakes up and professes that he dreamed of marrying Ansa when he was in his state of coma. Holappa leaves the hospital after a few days, greeted by Ansa and her dog, “Chaplin.” Finally together.
Why Is the Film Called Fallen Leaves?
It is not too difficult to imagine why Kaurismäki named this film “Fallen Leaves.” Both Holappa and Ansa have fallen off the societal system, as did a lot of working-class people. After the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war, Europe (and the entire world) has been economically hit. The working-class folks struggle to draw a healthy salary, despite toiling and giving significantly more effort than a lot of rich corporate heads. Through the works of Ansa and Holappa, Kaurismäki has plenty of shots representing the raw banality of blue-collar works interspersed in the poignant love story.
Fallen leaves lose the security of their sheltering tree, they become vulnerable to any gust of wind. These leaves flow where the wind takes them. The wind here is the socio-economical system that Holappa and Ansa find themselves in. Just like the leaves, they are swept by that. Their fate is dictated by this wind. Ansa would not have met Holappa for the second time had she not lost her second job at the pub. They always had something pulling them apart, with the hope that the next turn of life would bring them together, which it did in the most weird way. Fallen leaves are also old leaves. We will discuss how falling in love at a later stage is another theme of the film.
When Is the Story Set?
Kaurismäki has been careful to craft the timelessness of “Fallen Leaves.” The film appears to hover above our usual timeline, as if in a limbo where time is of no importance. The film has the Ukraine-Russia war mentioned for a significant number of times. Kaurismäki mentioned in his Cannes press conference that he could not ignore an event of that magnitude unfold without chastizing it. Holappa and Ansa see “The Dead Don’t Die,” which is a 2019 movie.
Yet, there is an old-world charm about the film. It is not just the whimsically dated way of romance that Holappa and Ansa showed, but also a lack of everything modern. There is hardly any mention of smartphones and the Internet. In today’s age, it is impossible to think of someone giving their phone number on a piece of paper and not even think of social media. And yet it blends seamlessly. Just like Kaurismäki could make the story feel tragic, humorous, and poignant at the same time, he could also make it feel like a classic with modern problems.
Why Is It Never Too Late for Love?
Actress Alma Pöysti, who played Ansa, mentioned in one of her interviews that it is a film representing falling in love in the later stage of life. “Fallen Leaves” champions that. It is not just Holappa and Ansa, but their friends Huotari and Liisa are also middle-aged or more. Liisa calls Huotari old before eventually falling for him. Pöysti said that it takes real courage to fall in love at a later stage, and she is absolutely right. With world-weary cynicism setting in deep, it is not easy. With all its references, politics, and humor, “Fallen Leaves” leaves us with the much-required comfort of knowing that it is not too late when it comes to love.
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