Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (1990)

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)
Das Mädchen aus der Streichholzfabrik (West Germany) [de]
I gynaika me ta spirta (Greece) [el]
La chica de la fábrica de cerillas (Spain) [es]
La chica de la fábrica de fósforos (Argentina) [es]
La fiammiferaia (Italy) [it]
La fille aux allumettes (France) [fr]
Oi gynaikes me ta spirta (Greece) (TV title) [el]
Pigen fra tændstikfabrikken (Denmark) [da]

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:

Call Your Lawyer

A brilliant deadpan tragedy

A riveting early masterpiece by Aki Kaurismaki. Kati Outinen is extraordinary as Iris, the long-faced factory worker of the title, who lives with her truly appalling parents in (probably) Helsinki. She cooks the meals and does all the housework, while they completely ignore her, preferring to watch TV and drink. Iris buys a dress and goes to a party - everybody ignores her there as well, and her scandalised mother forces her to take the dress back to the shop. A middle-class man picks her up in a bar and sleeps with her, and then leaves the next morning. She informs him that she's pregnant; he sends her a cheque and a note saying "Get rid of it." She quietly and inexorably starts to revenge herself on the world.

There's not much dialogue, but you don't need it; the camera stays on Outinen's mesmerisingly gloomy face. Iris is possibly the least glamorous heroine in movie history, but without apparently doing anything, Outinen shows all of Iris' hope, despair and the consciousness that it's going to get worse before it gets better. A great movie; since Fassbinder's death, they don't make many like these anymore.