The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.
Acting
Kati Outinen's face does more acting than most Oscar speeches.
Direction
Kaurismäki's static frames make poverty look like art.
Production
Helsinki has never looked more beautifully, tragically gray.
Director
Aki Kaurismäki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kaurismäki cast real unemployed workers as extras; some had actually been laid off from the locations used.
This is the unofficial middle chapter of Kaurismäki's 'Proletariat Trilogy'—Sandwiched between Shadows in Paradise and The Match Factory Girl, all starring Outinen as different women crushed by the same system.
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