Le Havre

(2011)

★ 7 IMDb · 492 votes

Genres: Drama, Comedy

Year: 2011

Runtime: 94 мин

Country: Finland, France

Director: Аки Каурисмяки

Cast: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Жан-Пьер Дарруссен, Blondin Miguel, Elina Salo, Evelyne Didi, Quoc Dung Nguyen, François Monnié, Roberto Piazza, Pierre Étaix

Plot

In the French harbor city of Le Havre, an elderly shoeshiner with an ailing wife crosses paths with a young African refugee pursued by the police for deportation.

A dock worker in Le Havre hears a human sound inside one of the containers in port, that container which left Gabon three weeks ago and which was supposed to arrive in London five days after its departure from Gabon, which didn't happen. The Le Havre police and French border guards find a still alive group of undocumented African immigrants inside. On the sign from one of his elders, a young teen boy among the undocumented immigrants manages to escape, news of which hits the local media. The first friendly face that boy, Idrissa, encounters is that of former artist now aged shoeshine Marcel Marx. Marcel decides to help Idrissa by hiding him in his house, news which slowly trickles through his community of friends - most of whom he associates with at his local bar - and neighbors, most who assist Marcel in this task. Marcel goes to great lengths to find out Idrissa's story, which leads to Marcel's further task of trying to get Idrissa to London, his original end destination. The one neighbor who wants to turn Idrissa in and the authorities seem to be on to Marcel's activities, most specifically hard nosed police Inspector Monet, who may have his own private agenda. Through it all, Marcel has on his mind the health of his terminally ill and hospitalized wife Arletty, the terminal aspect being something of which he is unaware and which may in turn eventually kill him as Arletty is his life.