Le Havre

2011 1h 34m FR

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 495

DramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

André Wilms
Marcel Marx
Kati Outinen
Arletty
Jean-Pierre Darroussin
Monet
Blondin Miguel
Idrissa
Elina Salo
Claire
Evelyne Didi
Yvette
Quoc Dung Nguyen
Chang
François Monnié
Greengrocer

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Writers: Aki Kaurismäki
Languages: French
Countries: Finland, France, Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: Finland, France, Germany.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Aki Kaurismäki, shot by Timo Salminen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Timo Linnasalo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

CAST

Did you know

André Wilms and Kati Outinen and Jean-Pierre Darroussin carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1508675 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Aki Kaurismäki directs. Timo Salminen behind the camera. Timo Linnasalo cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Finland, France, Germany. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.9M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Released 15 years ago.
3International production across 3 countries: Finland, France, Germany.
4Directed by Aki Kaurismäki, shot by Timo Salminen. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Timo Linnasalo shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6André Wilms and Kati Outinen and Jean-Pierre Darroussin carry the top of the cast.
7IMDB entry: tt1508675 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 16 themes, including "refugee", "grocer", "poverty", "kindness".

The technical file

Cinematography: Timo Salminen
Editing: Timo Linnasalo
Production design: Wouter Zoon
Costume design: Frédéric Cambier
Makeup / hair: Valérie Théry-Hamel
Sound: Tero Malmberg
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Status: Released
Budget: $3,850,000
Box office: $4,230,854
Return: 110% of budget
Original language: FR
IMDB: Le Havre (2011)

Awards

Louis Delluc Prize

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Aki Kaurismäki

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2014-04-05
★ 6/10
Simple story, well and gently told in Kaurismäki's characteristic style.
CRCulver2018-09-01
★ 5/10
In the 2011 production LE HAVRE, the Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki steps away from his usual Helsinki setting for the first in what will be a trilogy of films in Western European port cities. Always rooting for the underdogs, Kaurismäki this time concentrates not just on the disenfranchised urban lower class, but on a socioeconomic strata arguably lower than them: illegal immigrants. Middle-aged shoeshiner Marcel (André Wilms), who lives in a run-down neighbourhood with loving wife Arletty (Kati Outinen) meets Idrissa (Blondin Miguel), a child who has found his way from Gabon to France inside a shipping container. Marcel decides to shelter the boy and see him on to England, his intended destination, but detective Monet (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is on their heels. In spite of the French setting, this remains a very Finnish film in its sparse dialogue and deadpan humour. Kaurismäki yet again uses a very drab colour scheme and sets the film ostensibly in the present, but with cars, radios and rock music dating from the 1950s. Like nearly every film he has made, there is a musical performance by an oldies rock 'n' roll band, complete with pompadours and leather jackets. This is getting appallingly repetitive. Basically, if you've seen any two previous Kaurismäki films, then you'll find almost nothing new in the aesthetic and even the plot. That said, this is a more life-affirming film than his last, the absolutely bleak LÄHIKAUPINGIN VALOT of 2006. Kaurismäki is clearly concerned with the plight of those who would escape sub-Saharan Africa by any means necessary, and this leads the viewer to reflection, but his exposé of detention centres and police harrassment becomes heavy-handed at times.
CinemaSerf2024-10-16
★ 7/10
When a dockworker hears some strange noises emanating from a box recently arrived from Gabon, he's maybe not so surprised to discover that it's cargo is human - and bound for London. Detained by the immigration officials, the young and nimble "Idrissa" (Blondin Miguel) manages to evade his captors and whilst in flight encounters the slightly down-at-heel "Marcel" (André Wilms). The older man takes pity on this nervous new arrival and takes him into his home whilst they decide what's best to do next. It's a small town community and pretty quickly just about everyone at the local pub knows who and where the youngster is, but instead of turning him in, they decide that maybe they can help him. He's no thief, nor malcontent - just a young man bewildered and personable. As "Marcel" begins to learn a little more of his new charge, he determines to try and help him make it to the UK - but with a grudging fifth-columnist amongst their friends and the determined "Insp. Monet" (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) on his trail, things are not going to be a simple case of jumping onto the Eurostar. "Marcel" has other emotional fish to fry, too, as his ailing wife languishes in an hospital facing a prognosis that we, the audience, appreciate but he does not, as yet, know. Choices have to be made and priorities established for everyone as time and circumstances close in. I found there to be a strong and effective dynamic between Wilms and the young Miguel here, and the sparing script allows the characters to breathe and us to observe their respective, and ultimately conjoined, predicaments as the lad struggles without any real roots. At times it has a slightly documentary-style look to it, which adds a little authenticity to the investigative aspects of the drama - a policeman who does his job efficiently, but does he relish it? It packs quite a bit of food for thought into ninety minutes, and does ask us a few questions about our own attitudes - "There but for the grace of God" sort of things. It doesn't attempt to deliver much by way of the relative merits of illegal immigration nor of heinous people trafficking, per se, but again we are presented with a canvas that's drawn by just about everyone - friend and foe - but not much by the young man himself.