The Match Factory Girl

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The Match Factory Girl ★★★Tulitkkutehtaan Tytto 1990

Kaurismak's final segment of his “working class” trilogy. Iris, a plain, shy outsider shares a drab dwelling with her one-dimensional mother and stepfather, works in a match factory, and hopes desperately for romantic love. Her world is transformed when the extraordinary occurs—she spots a brightly colored party dress in a shop window, buys it, wears it to a bar, and meets the Scandinavian creep who will soon get her pregnant and dump her. Angry at the world, Iris seeks revenge, and in so doing the audience learns that she has become very real and human. Kaurismaki makes his point that beauty can exist in ugly places. In Finnish with English subtitles. 70m/C VHS . SW FI Kati Outinen, Elina Salo, Esko Nikkari, Vesa Vierikko; D: Aki Kaurismaki; W: Aki Kaurismaki.