Film shown in the Masters category during upcoming 36th Toronto
International Film Festival – directed by Finnish master Aki
Kaurismaki.
Marcel Marx, a talented writer (Andre Wilms) who used to live it
up in Paris in his version of La Vie Boheme retires to
unglamorous French port city of Le Havre, (title of the film),
and ekes out a living as a middle-aged shoeshine boy.
It’s not the greatest profession since a lot of people seem to
wear running shoes.
He is married to a devoted and loving wife (Kati Outinen), whose
French has a delightful Finnish accent. But Marcel is happy and content living in his poor
neighbourhood, surrounded by his plain and loyal neighbours who
appreciate him for his warmth and caring attention. Their special bonds are called into action when a young
boy arrives in a shipping container of illegal refugees and
escapes.
Marcel discovers the boy in the water and is determined to help
him get to England to rejoin his mother. That’s where the neighbours come in.
They help Marcel hide the boy from police and the
unrelenting Inspector Monet, played to perfection by Jean-Pierre
Darroussin.
There ensues a story of hide-and-seek, with the gendarmes
searching the neighbourhood, and the grocer, the Baker lady, and
the bar owner forming a protective shield, helping to raise
money to spirit the boy off and out of the police’s clutches.
Of course Inspector Monet closes an eye or two. In the end Marcel and Inspector Monet have a little verre
(glass) of Calvados. End of Fairytale.
This film truly shows the warmth and humanity of spirit that
many of us wish we could encounter more often on this planet.
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