Drifting Clouds

Ilona works as a head waiter at a Helsinki restaurant, and her husband Lauri drives a tram. Both lose their jobs, and the couple, who live quietly in a modest rented flat with their dog, must face the strain that unemployment puts on their relationship and their dignity. Ilona learns that Lauri has been out of work for some time without telling her. As they look for ways to get by, they hold on to the idea of opening a restaurant of their own, a plan that meets repeated setbacks.

Aki Kaurismäki wrote, produced and directed the film, the fourth in the chronological list of his features, following The Match Factory Girl and preceding The Man Without a Past. Kati Outinen plays Ilona and Kari Väänänen plays Lauri, with Elina Salo, Sakari Kuosmanen, Markku Peltola and Matti Onnismaa among the credited cast of forty-seven. The production, a German, Finnish and French co-production, was made for about six million dollars.

The film runs ninety-seven minutes and mixes comedy with drama. On IMDb it holds 7.6 out of 10 from around eleven thousand votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 7.6, from a much smaller number of 213 votes; the audience response is therefore consistent across both. A critics' rating of 7.3 from eleven reviews places it close to those audience scores rather than at odds with them.