Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (1990)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Aki Kaurismäki

Writer:

Aki Kaurismäki (writer)

Release Date:

6 November 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot:

Iris has a dead-end job in a match-factory, lives with her dour and forbidding parents, and her social life is a disaster...

Plot Keywords:

One Night Stand | Revenge | Rat Poison | Slap In The Face | Letter Writing

Awards:

6 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Kati Outinen	...	Iiris
Elina Salo	...	Mother
Esko Nikkari	...	Stepfather
Vesa Vierikko	...	Aarne
Reijo Taipale	...	The singer
Silu Seppälä	...	Iiris' brother
Outi Mäenpää	...	Iiris' co-worker
Marja Packalén	...	The doctor
Richard Reitinger	...	Man in the bar
Helka Viljanen	...	Office employee (as Helga Viljanen)
Kurt Siilas	...	Policeman
Ismo Keinänen	...	Policeman
Klaus Heydemann	...	Worker
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erkki Friman	...	Member of dance band
Tapani Ikonen	...	Member of dance band
Jari Lappalainen	...	Member of dance band
Lasse Luoto	...	Member of dance band

Also Known As:

Flickan från tändsticksfabriken (Sweden)
The Match Factory Girl (USA)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

Finland | Sweden

Language:

Finnish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Company:

Esselte Video

Quotes:

[first lines]
Iiris: Half pint, please!

Movie Connections:

Features Room Service (1938)

Soundtrack:

I'm Gonna Get High

The Irony of Silence in a Noisy World

Only the story is allowed to tell itself: A classic tale of a woman wronged told straight as can be, without the least adornment, comedy, or any other form of commentary from the film maker. The film begins with several minutes of pure images, no dialogue, and when words are in fact first spoken, they're almost painful. Kati Outinen, Kaurismäki's constant leading lady, looks even more forlorn than usual, her face swollen, her upper lip red and eyes bleary, as if she just finished crying. Salt of the earth, her one break from an otherwise bleak and desolate existence, a brief affair with a callous man of higher social status, ends badly. Events proceed with clocklike fatalism, a simplicity and inevitability that recall a Broadside ballad, a primeval tale.