The Match Factory Girl

Kaurismäki took his penchant for despairing character studies to unspeakably grim depths in the shockingly entertaining The Match Factory Girl. Kati Outinen is memorably impenetrable as Iris, whose grinding days as a cog in a factory wheel, and nights as a neglected daughter living with her parents, ultimately send her over the edge. Yet despite her transgressions, Kaurismäki makes Iris a compelling, even sympathetic figure. Bleak yet suffused with comic irony, The Match Factory Girl closes out the “Proletariat Trilogy” with a bang—and a whimper.

Finland
1990
69 minutes
Color
1.85:1
Finnish

Available In

Collector's Set

Aki Kaurismäki’s Proletariat Trilogy

DVD Box Set

3 Discs

$31.46

Cast & Credits

Cast

Kati Outinen: Iris
Elina Salo: Mother
Esko Nikkari: Stepfather
Vesa Vierikko: Aarne
Reijo Taipale: Singer
Silu Seppälä: Brother

Credits

Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Producer: Aki Kaurismäki
Producer: Faragó Katinka
Producer: Klas Olofsson
Screenplay: Aki Kaurismäki
Cinematography: Timo Salminen
Art direction: Risto Karhula
Editing: Aki Kaurismäki
Sound: Jouko Lumme

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Lana Wilson’s Top 10

The Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker chooses a selection of favorite movies that reflect the pain and beauty of human connection, including masterpieces by Yasujiro Ozu, Mike Leigh, and Aki Kaurismäki.

— Oct 22, 2024

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Aki Kaurismäki

Writer, Producer, Director

Even if he weren’t the world’s most famous Finnish filmmaker, Aki Kaurismäki’s singular place in cinema would be ensured by his distinctive and effortless mix of scalpel-sharp comedy, pitch-dark (The Match Factory Girl) or slapstick (Leningrad Cowboys Go America), with warm humanism. He started working in movies as his older brother Mika’s codirector, then struck out on his own with an adaptation of Crime and Punishment (1983). With his Proletariat Trilogy—Shadows in Paradise (1986), Ariel (1988), and The Match Factory Girl (1990), which find humor or romance in even the most desperate situations—and his zany musical comedies starring the fictional band the Leningrad Cowboys, Kaurismäki became a beloved figure in international film circles. The sardonic inventiveness of the former and the unexpected hipster hilarity of the latter confirmed him as an uncommon master, and his influence has been felt in works by the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson. Kaurismäki has continued to delight audiences with such films as the Oscar-nominated The Man Without a Past (2003) and Le Havre (2011), which evince his social commitment as well as his fluency in visual storytelling.

Read Kaurismäki’s Top 10.