Comedy,Drama
Finland,France,Germany,Sweden,United Kingdom
I Hired a Contract Killer is a dark comedy film directed by Aki Kaurismäki. The movie follows the story of Henri Boulanger, a middle-aged French man who has been working for the same company for fifteen years. One day, Henri is informed that he has been made redundant, which sends him into a downward spiral of depression and desperation.
Feeling like he has nothing left to live for, Henri decides to take his own life. However, he is unable to go through with it and instead decides to hire a contract killer to do the job for him. Henri finds the killer, a shady character named Michel, in a dingy bar and agrees to pay him to kill him at an unspecified time in the future.
Almost immediately after making this deal, Henri meets Margaret, a kind and beautiful flower-seller who helps him see that life is worth living. Henri falls in love with her and begins to find new hope and purpose in his life.
Realizing that he no longer wants to die, Henri sets out to cancel his contract with Michel. However, when he returns to the bar to find him, the building has been demolished, and Michel is nowhere to be found. Henri now must find a way to contact the killer and cancel the contract before it's too late.
The film is a dark and quirky examination of life, love, and death. The story is told with a dry wit and a sense of absurdity that is typical of Kaurismäki's style. The film is shot in a minimalist, no-frills style that emphasizes the bleakness of Henri's situation, but also highlights the warmth and kindness of the people he encounters along the way.
