01
Ariel
Why this pick
Kaurismäki’s similarly spare, deadpan world turns economic hardship and romantic disappointment into a tenderly offbeat, sharply observed fable.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE1990 1h 9m FIN
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
The Match Factory Girl
DramaComedy
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved The Match Factory Girl, try these.
01
02
The Man Without a Past
Why this pick
Its stoic outsider, concise storytelling, dry humor, and saturated working-class Helsinki create the same humane melancholy beneath Kaurismäki’s composed surfaces.
03
Fallen Leaves
Why this pick
A restrained romance between lonely wage workers, told through minimal dialogue, immaculate framing, deadpan comedy, and profound feeling held quietly in reserve.
04
Drifting Clouds
Why this pick
Another compact portrait of ordinary people facing humiliation and financial precarity, balancing blunt misfortune with resilient affection and wry visual understatement.
05
Wendy and Lucy
Why this pick
Reichardt shares Kaurismäki’s economy and compassion, following an isolated woman through small setbacks with quiet observation rather than emotional overstatement.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
Iris is a rather plain woman who lives with and helps support her mother and stepfather. She has a hard time attracting men, but one evening at the local dance club she meets Aarne, who thinks she's a prostitute, although Iris does not realize that. They spend the night together, and Aarne leaves the next morning before Iris awakes. Iris arranges for a second date with Aarne, and introduces him to her parents. During the date, Aarne harshly informs her that he does not desire her affection, and she leaves crying. Iris later discovers that she is pregnant, and writes to Aarne a letter asking him to raise the child with her. She receives a letter back simply stating "Get rid of the brat," along with a check for 10,000 marks. Iris becomes distraught and goes outside, leaving the letter and check on the table, where her mother finds them. While wandering around upset, Iris is hit by a car and she has a miscarriage. Her stepfather visits Iris in the hospital and tells her she must move out of the apartment, because she has disappointed her mother.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Kati Outinen
Iris Rukka
Esko Nikkari
Stepfather
Elina Salo
Mother
Richard Reitinger
Man in the Bar
Vesa Vierikko
Aarne
Outi Mäenpää
Co-worker
Marja Packalén
Doctor
Silu Seppälä
Iris Rukka's brother