Tulitikkutehtaan Tyttö

"They must have died of cold and hunger, so far away, there, in the middle of the forest." Kaurismäki prefaces the conclusion of his Proletarian Trilogy with this quote from Anne Golon's Angélique, which also emphasises his laconic style. Unlike the lively literary character, his heroine Iris ekes out an unspectacular existence as a grey mouse - during the day in the almost deserted match factory, in the evening largely unnoticed in a dance hall and in between with her lethargic parents, from whose television set terrible news from all over the world emanates. Until one of them actually asks her out and takes her home. But happiness is at least as deceptive as the absurd comedy of life behind all the tragedy of the film. A complementary film to "NORDRAND".