Fallen Leaves (2023)
I must be missing the memo. Fallen Leaves has been hailed all over the place as some sort of triumphant return to form, a festival darling showered with praise, and I sat there watching it wondering what on earth everyone else was seeing that I wasn't. Strip away the hype, the Cannes goodwill, the critical consensus, and what you're actually left with is something remarkably, almost aggressively, basic.
We're introduced to two solitary souls drifting through a bleak, muted Helsinki. She pilfers small items from her workplace to get by. He is a functioning alcoholic. They cross paths a couple of times, share one thoroughly grim meal together, and then eventually bump into each other again. That is, I promise you, the dramatic arc in its entirety. Aki Kaurismäki is clearly working in a deadpan, stoic register, and I understand that's entirely intentional. But when the dialogue is this paper-thin and the character development is practically non-existent, it becomes very hard to actually care about anyone on screen. I found myself checking the clock, waiting for a spark of humanity or a genuine emotional hook that simply never arrived.
Now, I want to be fair. I've seen what this kind of stripped-back Finnish filmmaking can do at its best. I reviewed The Match Factory Girl, which is also spare, also bleak, also operating with minimal dialogue and maximum restraint, and that one genuinely got under my skin. There's real bite to it, a simmering anger that gives the austerity purpose. Here, I didn't feel that. The minimalism in Fallen Leaves doesn't feel purposeful so much as it feels like a default setting, a style mistaken for substance.
The environments are as joyless as a wet Tuesday in November, and yes, I know that's partly the point. Some critics see all this as a profound commentary on modern loneliness, two people adrift in a cold city, finding each other against the odds. Fine. I can see that reading. But a film still has to give you something to hold onto, some flicker of warmth, wit, or genuine feeling to make the journey worthwhile. Kaurismäki is clearly aiming for a deadpan charm, but charm requires a pulse, and this film barely has one. The two leads, Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, are doing what the script asks of them, which is essentially to exist in a state of perpetual, unvarnished melancholy. That's not really a character, it's a posture.
What frustrates me most is that there are moments where the film almost sparks into life, a dry joke here, a brief interaction there, and you think, right, this is where it starts. And then it retreats straight back into the grey. Kaurismäki seems so committed to his aesthetic that he won't allow any genuine emotional release, and for a picture built around a love story, that's a real problem. I'm not asking for sentimentality. I'm asking to feel something.
This is a film that mistakes austerity for depth, and restraint for meaning. There is nothing particularly noteworthy, romantic, interesting, or even faintly funny about watching two people exist in parallel misery for the better part of an hour and a half. For a runtime that short, it felt like an endurance test. Two stars.
I don't doubt that Kaurismäki has his devoted audience, and if you're already a convert, maybe Fallen Leaves will feel like exactly what you want from him. But if you're coming to this on the strength of the reviews, as I did, brace yourself. This is a cold, emotionally distant experience that left me out in the rain rather than bringing me in from it.
Rating: ★★ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-07-27
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: MUBI · MUBI Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: MUBI · MUBI Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Fandango At Home
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Fandango At Home
Physical: Amazon US
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
