‘Fallen Leaves’ Director Aki Kaurismäki Says Ukraine War Made Him “Feel Like This Bloody World Needed Some Love Stories”

“It felt like this bloody world needed some love stories now,” Fallen Leaves director Aki Kaurismäki said of his Palme d’Or contender this afternoon.

With war still raging in Ukraine, the Finnish auteur, who does not mince his words, focused several times on themes of love as an antidote to global conflict.

The movie features clips of the Ukraine War in radio broadcasts and Kaurismäki said he “couldn’t have done any film during the war without commenting somehow, so I commented with radio.”

“It felt like this bloody world needed some love stories now, but it doesn’t matter what we do in Finland,” he added.

Documenting the war in his movie was important so people can “watch it and understand how cruel and stupid” the conflict was years down the line, he added. In a similar vein, Kaurismäki pointed to his inclusion of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1990’s The Match Factory Girl.

Fallen Leaves star Jussi Vatanen said: “During terrible times, it is important to remember there is beauty and love in the world, so in that sense this is an extraordinarily important movie.”

Fallen Leaves has been one of the buzziest Cannes films so far and is Kaurismäki’s first Palme d’Or nominee since 2011’s Le Havre. It stars Alma Pöysti and Vatanen as two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Deadline’s Pete Hammond called it a flat-out-gem.

Kaurismäki credited Charlie Chaplin as an inspiration for Fallen Leaves and said he remains the “best ever.”

“He created Hollywood in good and bad but he also created cinema as it is today,” Kaurismäki said of Chaplin.

Next up, he is working on a slapstick tragedy which will again star Pöysti and Vatanen, which Kaurismäki said is “25% written in my head.”

Working with Kaurismäki is great as he “has a clear vision,” said Vatanen, with Pöysti adding: “We learned about acting in Aki’s movies: Don’t look into the camera, don’t rehearse and know your lines but don’t read your script too much.”

The trio joked that they spent most of their time debating and learning about the difference between green and white asparagus.

“It’s been a learning journey of cinematography and asparagus,” added Pöysti.