Seven rounds with Aki Kaurismäki

Aki Kaurismäki sits in his heavy black coat, grimacing. The miserabilist's miserabilist is looking more miserable than it is possible to imagine. I have been told it is best to interview him first thing in the morning, because he starts to drink after that. It is now four in the afternoon, and he seems to have been glugging back the white wine for a good few hours.

He is waiting for a member of staff at Soho House in London to tell him to put out his fag, and he is not disappointed. "I'm sorry, sir, we have told you, you can't smoke in here." Kaurismäki looks surprised, as if this is the first he's heard of it, apologises and throws his lit cigarette into a glass of water. The waitress picks up the glass to take it away. Kaurismäki shouts, as if he's just been mugged. "That's my water! That's my water!" She runs away. Finland's greatest film-maker smiles.        Read Full