Maxance Vincent
If you haven’t seen Fallen Leaves already, you are missing out on one of the best comedies of the year and one that reaffirms Aki Kaurismäki‘s status as one of the greatest filmmakers who ever graced this planet and a staple of Finnish cinema.
The film, reviewed here by Joey, contains one of the year’s best lead performances by Alma Pöysti as Ansa, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category, alongside the film also nominated for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language. In reacting to her nomination, Pöysti tells Awards Radar, “it’s fantastic that a little strange, shy love story from Finland can touch people from other places. It’s wonderful.”
Knowing that Kaurismäki has had a reputation in cinema for over 40 years, she still didn’t know how broad the impact of this film was going to be, stating that “You never know when you make something, how it’s going to communicate and if it’s going to work. But it’s been quite overwhelming to get to travel with the film now and see how people really seem to take it to their hearts.”
One of the biggest challenges for Pöysti was that Kaurismäki didn’t want the actors to rehearse before shooting the scenes, which were to be done in one take. Before shooting the film, Pöysti explains that she rewatched Kaurismäki’s filmography to “get a sense of his universe and get it more freshened up. Of course, I’ve seen them before, but it was a while ago, and it felt like you’re a link in a long chain. He’s been doing these films for 40 years, and this is his 20th feature.
Maybe Ansa could be some distant relative to another character in another movie. Not to copy what people have done before, but just to get the tone right and tune in to that universe. I went to work at places where Ansa worked, a little bit in a bar, in the supermarket, and the factory to just get it into my system. That was all I was able to do. Then we came to the set, and it was actually true that he wanted us to do it in one take. That was really terrifying at first, but then you start to love it because you realize that what you get from a one-and-only take is a very precious moment that hasn’t been repeated and will never be repeated again. It becomes valuable and honest in a way. It’s hard to do, but it’s very precious.”
During our audio conversation, seen below, we also discussed her relationship with Kaurismäki’s script, how the use of silence informed her approach to Ansa, and what specific movie made her fall in love with the art of cinema. The answer may surprise you.
You can listen to the full interview below and see Fallen Leaves in select theatres now:
[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]
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