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The Man Without a Past
Sign in to saveAlso known as Man Without a Past, Mies vailla menneisyyttä
2002 film by Aki Kaurismäki
OverviewAI-generated
The Man Without a Past, titled in Finnish Mies vailla menneisyyttä, is a 2002 drama and comedy film written, produced, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, with cinematography by Timo Salminen and music by Leevi Madetoja. Set in Helsinki, its main subjects are amnesia and identity, and its cast includes Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Sakari Kuosmanen, and Esko Nikkari. A co-production of Finland, Germany, and France distributed by Bavaria Film, it was made on a budget of $1,206,000 and grossed $9,564,237. It won the Nordic Council Film Prize, the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix, and the Jussi Award for Best Leading Actress, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. It runs 97 minutes.
Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
7.4Arriving in Helsinki, a nameless man is beaten within an inch of his life by thugs, miraculously recovering only to find that he has completely lost his memory. Back on the streets, he attempts to begin again from zero, befriending a moody dog and becoming besotted with a Salvation Army volunteer.
Cast
- Markku Peltola as M
- Kati Outinen as Irma
- Juhani Niemelä as Nieminen
- Kaija Pakarinen as Kaisa Nieminen
- Sakari Kuosmanen as Anttila
- Annikki Tähti as Manager of Flea Market
Themes
- helsinki, finland
- amnesia
- trailer park
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Key facts
- Directed by
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Written by
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Produced by
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Starring
- Markku Peltola Kati Outinen Annikki Tähti Juhani Niemelä Kaija Pakarinen Tähti-Koira Sakari Kuosmanen Marko Haavisto & Poutahoukat Esko Nikkari Outi Mäenpää Perti Sveholm Matti Wuori Aino Seppo Janne Hyytiäinen Elina Salo Anneli Sauli
- Cinematography
- Timo Salminen
- Edited by
- Timo Linnasalo
- Music by
- Leevi Madetoja
- Production companies
- Sputnik YLE Bavaria Film Studios Pandora Film Pyramide Productions
- Distributed by
- United International Pictures
- Release dates
- 1 March 2002 ( 2002-03-01 ) (Finland) 22 May 2002 ( 2002-05-22 ) ( Cannes )
- Running time
- 97 minutes
- Country
- Finland
- Language
- Finnish
- Budget
- €1,206,000
- Box office
- $9,564,237
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Participant in
- 15th European Film Awards
- Genre
- comedy film
- Country of origin
- France
- Original language
- Finnish
- Main subject
- identity
- Director
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Screenwriter
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Cast member
- Antti Reini
- Composer
- Leevi Madetoja
- Producer
- Aki Kaurismäki
- Cinematographer
- Timo Salminen
- Narrative location
- Helsinki
- Duration
- 97
- FilmAffinity ID
- 164381
- Distribution format
- video on demand
Show 6 more facts
- title
- Mies vailla menneisyyttä
- publication date
- 2003-04-04
- distributed by
- Bavaria Film
- review score
- 84/100
- capital cost
- 1206000
- box office
- 3494191
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
The Man Without a Past (Finnish: Mies vailla menneisyyttä) is a 2002 Finnish comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Starring Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, and Juhani Niemelä, it is the second installment in Kaurismäki's "Finland" trilogy, preceded by Drifting Clouds (1996) and followed by Lights in the Dusk (2006). The film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki, is beaten so severely that he develops amnesia, and must reconstruct his life among the city's marginalized community living in shipping containers.
The film premiered in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix and the Best Actress Award for Kati Outinen. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 75th Academy Awards, although Kaurismäki controversially boycotted the ceremony in protest of the Iraq War. It is widely considered one of Kaurismäki's most significant works, praised for its deadpan humour, social commentary, and humanist optimism.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “The Man Without a Past” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.