French comedy, winner of the International Critics Prize at Cannes 2011, following the friendship between a shoeshiner and an illegal...
French comedy, winner of the International Critics Prize at Cannes 2011, following the friendship between a shoeshiner and an illegal immigrant boy.
"Marcel Marx, a former author and a well-known Bohemian, has retreated into a voluntary exile in the port city of Le Havre... he has buried his dreams of a literary breakthrough and lives happily within the triangle of his favourite bar, his shoe-shining work, and his wife Arletty, when fate suddenly throws in his path an underage immigrant refugee from darkest Africa.
"As Arletty at the same time gets seriously ill, Marcel has to rise against the cold wall of human indifference with his only weapon: innate optimism and the unwavering solidarity of the people of his quartier. Against him stands the whole blind machinery of the Western constitutionally governed state, this time represented by the dragnet of the police, moment by moment drawing closer around the refugee boy." (Cannes Film Festival 2011)
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Where to watch Le Havre
99 %98 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® rating
75 %7,371 reviewsAudience score rating
"Le Havre is utopian precisely because it shows everything as it is not."
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Village Voice
Village Voice"Mixing together some of helmer Aki Kaurismaki's favorite Gallic and Finnish thesps with a few newbies, Le Havre feels like a welcoming family reunion."
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Variety
Variety"Kaurismäki adeptly weaves rockabilly musical interludes, a stylised colourscheme and droll performances into a warm-hearted salute to both classical French cinema and working-class solidarity."
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Total Film
Total Film"This is textbook Kaurismäki, neither fresh nor unwelcome."
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Time Out
Time Out"Le Havre is a playful parable that conveys profound truths about compassion, humility and sacrifice. It offers proof that miracles do happen - especially in Kaurismaki's lyrically hardscrabble neighborhood."
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The Washington Post
The Washington Post"A stylized and sentimental fairy tale about the way the world might be, grounded in a frank recognition of the way it is."
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The New York Times
The New York Times"This movie is as lovable as a silent comedy, which it could have been."
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Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert"The setting is somewhere between a post-WWII Brigadoon and the environs of Marcel Carn classic "Children of Paradise," but the story is as timely as this morning's news from Europe."
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Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly"It may not be up there with his very best, but Aki Kaurismäki offers a reminder that he's a still one of the freshest voices in cinema."
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Empire Magazine
Empire MagazineLe Havre | Details
Award winner- International Critics Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2011.
- Rating
- PG, Mild themes and infrequent coarse language
- Runtime
- 93
- Genre
- Comedy, Drama
- Country of origin
- Finland, France, Germany
