La Vie de Bohème

Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki's 1992 adaptation of Henri Murger's novel Scènes de la Vie de Bohème offers a very different take on the melodrama that is familiar to many through the opera La Bohème. Kaurismäki is far more low-key, updating the setting to contemporary Paris, and directing the trio of starving artists—Rodolfo (Matti Pellonpää), Schaunard (Kari Väänänen), and Marcel (André Wilms)—with his usual wry sense of humor. The women—including the doomed Mimi (Evelyne Didi), who usually takes center stage elsewhere—are pretty much shown at the margins of their lives, which play out as an almost inevitable cycle of failure and self-sabotage. Shot in black and white, La Vie de Bohème skips the familiar City of Light landmarks for out-of-the-way streets and corner bistros, presenting a playfully dreary, eternally wintry Paris (the film's warmth emerges from the friendship of the men). Jean-Pierre Léaud, one-time poster boy for the French New Wave, and American director Sam Fuller also have small but memorable roles in this quirky and charming movie. While not for all audiences, this is classic Kaurismäki, and fans of offbeat American indies and foreign cinema should enjoy this unusual take on a well-known story. Presented in a Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, extras include a “making-of” documentary, interview with Wilms, and a booklet with an essay by critic Luc Sante. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)