DRIFTING CLOUDS

Finland, 1996, 96 minutes, Colour.
Kati Outinen, Kari Vaananen.
Directed by Aki Kaurismaki.

Drifting Clouds is the first film in what became a trilogy for the most celebrated of Finnish film-makers, Aki Kaurismaki.

Kaurismaki is an eccentric film-maker. During the 80s and 90s he pictured the eccentricities of Finnish life – especially with his band and strangely coiffed The Leningrad Cowboys. Leningrad Cowboys Go America was a popular success. He also made small-budget stories about Finland, especially his city of Helsinki, La Vie de Boheme.

There is a deeper humanity in Drifting Clouds. He focuses on a couple who live in Helsinki and who lose their jobs. The atmosphere of recession is depressing. The couple find it very hard to find new jobs. Yet, their personalities, their optimism and their love for each other help them to overcome difficulties. These themes were taken up in his more ambitious 2002 film, The Man Without a Past which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival that year as well as the Ecumenical Prize. (Drifting Clouds had won a commendation from the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes in 1996). The third film in the trilogy is also a film of compassion, a focus on a rather more simple man who is used pitilessly by criminals to cover up a crime and who suffers imprisonment as a consequence.

1.A film by Kaurismaki? His world reputation? Bringing Finnish life to the screen? His eccentric portraits of focused life in Finland.

2.The 1990s in Finland, recession, unemployment? The consequences for ordinary people?

3.The Helsinki locations, the Dubrovnik, the house, the dump, the streets? The range of the musical score?

4.The characters, strong, credible? Audiences identifying with them?

5.At the Dubrovnik, the style, the clientele, the cook, the drinking, the details of life there?

6.Ilona and Lauri, their work, the owner of the Dubrovnik, putting it up for sale? Ilona leaving? The hardships for the couple?

7.Social benefits, the queues, the many applicants for the jobs, their having to get by, caring for each other, the dump fraud, the bashing?

8.Lauri, the job, the flowers? No benefits, his being bashed, staying away?

9.Ilona, her meeting the cook, the porter, the ham and the wife?

10.The plan, the loan, the wife, selling the car, gambling?

11.The realism of their situation, the opportunities, their stances of hope, not wanting to become victims?

12.The customers, the drifting clouds?

13.The style of the film, realism, wry dialogue? The blend of seriousness and humour? The particularly European tone? Universal?