The Match Factory Girl

Aki Kaurismäki takes his penchant for despairing character studies to unspeakably grim, and shockingly entertaining, depths in THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL. Kati Outinen is unforgettable as Iris, whose days are spent performing monotonous factory work and whose nights are no less stifling at home with her indifferent parents. When one more humiliation pushes her past the breaking point, her quiet endurance gives way to something far darker.

Bleak, deadpan, and laced with comic irony, THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL closes out Kaurismäki’s “Proletariat Trilogy” with one of his sharpest portraits of work, loneliness, and revenge.

Part of Her Work is Never Done.