I Hired a Contract Killer

I Hired a Contract Killer is a film directed, produced and written by the Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki in 1990. It is a Finnish-British-German-Swedish co-production and stars the renowned French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud. The film also features cameo appearances by Joe Strummer as a guitar player and by Kaurismäki as a sunglasses salesman. The film's plot device of a man arranging for an assassin to kill him but later attempting to call off the deal is also used in the more famous 1998 American film Bulworth.
Plot
Henri Boulanger is a middle-aged French man leading a drab and solitary life in London. One day, he is notified that despite fifteen years of service, he has been laid off, effective immediately, from his office job at the London waterworks because the government wants to privatize the business and foreigners have to be fired first.
Without a job or friends, Henri decides to end his life, but his attempt at hanging himself and burning himself in the oven both fail. One day, Henri comes across a story in the paper about contract killers, so he pawns some personal goods and goes to the Honolulu Bar to meet them. They agree to do the job within two weeks and tell him to contact them in time if he changes his mind, though Henri assures them that he won't.
In the meantime, bored of waiting for the assassin, Henri leaves a note on his door indicating that he's gone to a pub. There, he has a chance encounter with Margaret, a woman selling flowers there, and the two immediately strike up a conversation and plan to meet in the future. Upon returning and realizing that the assassin has been there, he immediately hides in his apartment. The assassin manages to break in, but Henri escapes and decides to visit Margaret.
At Margaret's, Henri confesses that he has fallen for her, which has made him change his mind about wanting to die. Margaret advises him to visit the Honolulu Bar to cancel the order and decides to go to Henri's apartment to get his belongings, thinking she is safe because the assassin does not know her. However, Henri discovers that the Honolulu Bar has been demolished; Margaret, for some reason, does not reach enter his apartment, and the assassin tails her on her way back to her apartment. However, he does not follow her into the elevator, instead returning home, where he has a bloody coughing fit.
Back at Margaret's, Henri has run out of cigarettes and decides to go to the corner store to get some. Meanwhile, the assassin forces his way into Margaret's apartment; despite her attempts to deny any connection to Henri, he threatens her with his gun and forces her to wait for Henri's return with him. Upon hearing footsteps, the assassin plans to make his move, but Margaret knocks him unconscious. The two flee the apartment and rent a room at a hotel, where Margaret half-heartedly suggests that he go to the police to explain the situation, and the two have sex.
Meanwhile, the assassin, recovered, is told by the doctor that he has a form of cancer and only one to two months left to live, but he decides that is still enough time to kill Henri. Back at the hotel, Henri wakes up to find that Margaret is gone. He goes out to a pub, where he sees the assassin's two henchmen. He follows them out of the pub and into a jeweler's, where he shockingly discovers the two robbing the place. The jeweler attempts to wrestle the gun out of one of the henchman's hands; the gun goes off, killing him in the process. The henchmen stuff the gun in Henri's hands and flee. Henri quickly leaves and disposes of the gun.
In the meantime, Margaret goes to a pub to sell flowers where she by chance meets the assassin. She attempt to convince him to call off the job, but the assassin tells her that everyone has to die at some point. Returning to the hotel, the receptionist hands Margaret a letter, in which Henri presumably describes his plan to
kill himself by jumping in front of a train, but this also fails. The assassin follows Margaret to the hotel and presumably kills the receptionist.
Margaret goes to a French burger place where he has a surprise visit with Henri, who has now found a job there. The two decide to leave the country, with Margaret leaving to pack her belongings and buy the tickets and the two meeting at the station. Meanwhile, the police catch the two henchmen in the process of pawning the jewelry - Henri is therefore declared innocent. However, right as he prepares to leave the burger place, the assassin enters, determined to finish the job. Henri escapes out the back of the restaurant but the assassin knocks Henri's employer unconscious and catches up with him. He tells Henri that he will soon be dying, but it will finally allow him to depart from life, which he considers a disappointment. He points his gun at Henri and bids him farewell, then suddenly points the gun at himself and pulls the trigger. Henri leaves and while crossing the street, is nearly hit by a taxi - none other than the one Margaret is taking.
Some time later, Henri's employer, recovered, stands by a window in the restaurant as he smokes a cigarette and cleans his glasses.
See also
Tribulations of a Chinaman in China (novel by Jules Verne, 1879)
Flirting with Fate (1916)
The Man in Search of His Murderer (1931)
The Whistler (1944)
You Only Live Once (1952)
Five Days (1954)
Up to His Ears (1965)
Tulips (1981)
Bulworth (1998)
Shut Up and Shoot Me (2005)
References
External links
I Hired a Contract Killer at the British Film Institute
1990 films
1990 comedy-drama films
English-language Finnish films
Films about contract killing
Films about suicide
Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Films set in London
Finnish comedy-drama films
1990s English-language films