Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Country: Finland, France
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1hr 33min
Language: French
Subtitles: English
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.arthousefilmclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/lehavere1.jpg?resize=474%2C632)
The Film
Le Havre (‘The Haven’) is a 2011 comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki and starring André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Blondin Miguel. It tells the story of a shoeshiner who tries to save an immigrant child in the French port city Le Havre. The film was produced by Kaurismäki’s Finnish company Sputnik with international co-producers in France and Germany. It is Kaurismäki’s second French-language film, after La Vie de Bohème from 1992.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.arthousefilmclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/lehavre3.jpg?resize=880%2C495&ssl=1)
The film premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the FIPRESCI Prize. Kaurismäki envisions it as the first installment in a trilogy about life in port cities. His ambition is to make follow-ups set in Spain and Germany, shot in the local languages. However, his next film The Other Side of Hope is set in Helsinki.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.arthousefilmclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/lehavre2-1024x680.jpg?resize=880%2C584&ssl=1)