LE HAVRE


SYNOPSIS
Marcel Marx, a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre, where he feels he has reached a closer rapport with the people serving them in the occupation of the honourable, but not too profitable, of a shoe-shiner. He has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and lives happily within the triangle of his favourite bar, his work, and his wife Arletty, when fate suddenly throws in his path an underage immigrant refugee from the darkest Africa. As Arletty at the same time gets seriously ill and is bedridden, Marcel once more has to rise against the cold wall of human indifference with his only weapon of innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of the people of his quartier, but against him stands the whole blind machinery of the Western constitutionally governed state, this time represented by the dragnet of the police, moment by moment drawing closer around the refugee boy. It’s time for Marcel to polish his shoes and reveal his teeth.

DIRECTORAki Kaurismäki
YEAR2011
STATUScompleted
FESTIVALS AWARDSCannes 2011 Competition

 
CASTAndré Wilms
Kati Outinen
Blondin Miguel
Laika
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Elina Salo
Quoc-Dung Nguyen
Evelyne Didi
Pierre Étaix
Jean-Pierre Léaud

 
CO PRODUCTION WITHSputnik Oy
Pyramide International
Pandora Film in co-production with ARTE France Cinéma
ZDF/Arte
SUPPORTED BYThe Finnish Film Foundation
CANAL+
Nordisk Film & TV Fond
CNC
YLE Coproductions
CINÉCINÉMA
ARTE France
la Région Haute-Normandie
WORLD SALESThe Match Factory
GERMAN DISTRIBUTORPandora Film Verleih

 
LENGTH93 min.
FORMAT35mm
1:1.85
Dolby Digital
SHOOTING LOCATIONFrance
ORIGINAL LANGUAGEFrench

 
PRODUCERSAki Kaurismäki
Fabienne Vonier
Reinhard Brundig
WRITERSAki Kaurismäki
CASTING
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHYTimo Salminen
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENTGilles Charmant (assistant director)
EDITINGTimo Linnasalo
MUSIC
SOUNDTero Malmberg
ART DIRECTIONWouter Zoon
COSTUMESFred Cambier
MAKE UP HAIRValéry Thery-Hamel

 
SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLEn/s
DVD VIDEO AVAILABLEn/s
LINKSwww.the-match-factory.com