''The Man Without a Past'' ( fi, Mies vailla menneisyyttä) is a 2002 Finnish

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

produced, written, and directed by

Aki Kaurismäki Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (; born 4 April 1957) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the award-winning '' Drifting Clouds'' (1996), ''The Man Without a Past'' (2002), ''Le Havre'' (2011) and ''The Other Side of Hope'' (20 ...

. Starring

Markku Peltola Markku Peltola (12 July 1956 – 31 December 2007) was a Finnish actor and musician. He was born and grew up in Helsinki. He was actively involved in founding and acting with the Telakka Theater in Tampere. Peltola is best known for starring ...

Kati Outinen Anna Katriina "Kati" Outinen (born 17 August 1961) is a Finnish actress who has often played leading female roles in Aki Kaurismäki's films. Outinen was born in Helsinki. Having studied under Jouko Turkka during his "reign" of drama studies i ...

and Juhani Niemelä, it is the second installment in Kaurismäki's ''Finland'' trilogy, the other two films being '' Drifting Clouds'' (1996) and ''

Lights in the Dusk ''Lights in the Dusk'' ( fi, Laitakaupungin valot) is a 2006 Finnish comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Starring Janne Hyytiäinen, Ilkka Koivula, and Maria Järvenhelmi, the film was presented at the 2006 Can ...

'' (2006). The film was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

in 2002 (the only Finnish film so far) and won the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

at the

2002 Cannes Film Festival The 55th Cannes Film Festival started on 15 May and ran until 26 May 2002. The Palme d'Or went to the Polish-French-German-British co-produced film '' The Pianist'' directed by Roman Polanski. The festival opened with ''Hollywood Ending'', directe ...

Plot

The film begins with an unnamed man arriving by train to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. After falling asleep in

Kaisaniemi Park Kaisaniemi park ( fi, Kaisaniemen puisto, sv, Kajsaniemiparken) is a popular park, in the center of Helsinki, in the region of Kluuvi. The Kaisaniemi Park was named after Catharina "Cajsa" Wahllund.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography o ...

, he is mugged and beaten by hoodlums and is left with severe head injuries, losing consciousness. He awakes and wanders back to the train station and collapses in its toilet. He awakes the second time in a hospital and finds that he has lost his memory. He starts his life from scratch, living in a shipping container, finding clothes with help from the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

and making friends with his poor neighbours.

Cast

as M *

as Irma *Juhani Niemelä as Nieminen *Kaija Pakarinen as Kaisa Nieminen *

Sakari Kuosmanen Sakari Jyrki Kuosmanen (born 6 September 1956) is a Finnish singer and actor, born in Helsinki. He has recorded several solo albums and has also done work with Sleepy Sleepers and Leningrad Cowboys. He appeared as himself on the Finnish televi ...

as Anttila * Annikki Tähti as Manager of Flea Market *

Anneli Sauli Anneli is a female given name common in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Norway. It originated as a variation of the name Anna (given name), Anna. It is listed by the Finnish Population Register Centre as one of the top 10 most popular female given ...

as Bar Owner *

Elina Salo Aino Elina Salo (born 9 March 1936 in Sipoo, Finland) is a Finnish film, theatre and television actress who has also done work in radio as a voice actor in children’s programming. In her career that began in 1956, Salo has appeared in over 50 fi ...

as Dock Clerk *

Outi Mäenpää Outi Mäenpää (born 24 February 1962) is a Finnish actress. Mäenpää was born in Helsinki. She began her career in theatre as a stage actor between 1984 and 1988. Life Since 1989 she has appeared regularly on Finnish television, with over ...

as Bank Clerk *

Esko Nikkari Esko Nikkari (23 November 1938 – 17 December 2006) was a prolific Finnish actor who made more than 70 appearances on film and television. He was born in Lapua, and made his screen debut in 1974 in the movie ''Karvat''. Nikkari was a workhorse ...

as Bank Robber *Pertti Sveholm as Police Detective *

Matti Wuori Matti Ossian Wuori (July 16, 1945 in Helsinki – October 15, 2005) was a Finnish lawyer, politician, and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Green League in 1999–2004. His father died early which left his mother to raise him while ...

as himself (lawyer) *Aino Seppo as Ex-wife *Janne Hyytiäinen as Ovaskainen *

Antti Reini Antti Reini (born 27 August 1964) is a Finnish film actor. At the 27th Guldbagge Awards he was nominated for the award for Best Actor for his role in '' Il Capitano: A Swedish Requiem''. Seven films (2011–2015) made from the '' Vares'' novels ...

as Electrician

Production

''The Man Without a Past'' was co-produced by the Finnish companies

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (; see § Etymology) was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for t ...

and

YLE Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

, the German companies

Bavaria Film Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

and

Pandora Filmproduktion In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...

and the French company

Pyramide Productions Pyramide may refer to: * Pyramide, brand name in Japan and Thailand for pyrazinamide, an anti-tuberculosis drug * Pyramide (benzamide), a group of benzamides, one of which is used as a fungicide * Pyramidal tracts, anatomical feature, aggregations ...

Critical reception

The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a rating of 98%, based on 99 critics, with an average rating of 7.98/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kaurismäki delivers another droll comedy full of his trademark humor." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 84 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

awarded the film three-and-a-half stars out of 4, saying he "felt a deep but indefinable contentment". Kirk Honeycutt of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said the film "contains not one false note. It is the work of an artist fully in control of his art." Barbara Scharres of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...

'' said that Kaurismäki "perfects his trademark formula of deadpan humor and arctic circle pathos in this brilliantly ironic 2002 comedy."

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Man Without a Past, The 2002 films 2002 comedy-drama films Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki 2000s Finnish-language films The Salvation Army Films about amnesia Films set in Helsinki Best Foreign Film Guldbagge Award winners Finnish comedy-drama films Cannes Grand Prix winners