In the French harbor city of Le Havre, an elderly shoeshiner with an ailing wife crosses paths with a young African refugee pursued by the police for deportation.
Direction
Kaurismäki's patented deadpan that somehow breaks your heart.
Production
Le Havre as a timeless, slightly unreal port town.
Acting
André Wilms' face contains multitudes of gentle resilience.
Director
Aki Kaurismäki
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kaurismäki had never visited Le Havre before writing; he chose it purely for the name's poetic resonance. The city later awarded him honorary citizenship.
The film deliberately echoes French poetic realism of the 1930s-40s (Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir), creating a 'fake nostalgia' for a more humane past that may never have existed.
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