Honey Baby is a 2003 film by Mika Kaurismäki loosely based on the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Tom Brackett (Henry Thomas) is a washed-up American singer whose initial success across the pond has all but dried up. Contractually obligated to tour Europe before heading home, he runs into the beautiful Natascha (Irina Björklund), a has-been ballerina who flees her wedding to her powerful, cold fiancé, Karl (Helmut Berger).
After falling in love with his music, Natascha browbeats Tom into becoming his new tour manager, and together they travel the continent and grow closer—but affection isn't the same as happiness, and running away from problems doesn't make them go away. In the end, they must confront both what they're running from and themselves, which may be the only chance for true happiness.
This film contains examples of:
- Affectionate Nickname: After learning she was raised on a bee farm, Tom nicknames Natascha "Honey Baby."
- All Just a Dream: Tom's dramatic almost-rescue of Natascha is just a dream after he's knocked out when riding his motorcycle.
- And You Were There: Tom's dream sequence casts him as Orpheus, Natascha as Eurydice, and Karl as Hades.
- Don't Look Back: In the Hades dream sequence, Tom is implicitly told he can't look back for Natascha, but turns when he sees Karl's reflection in the mirror. Karl then shoots Natascha as punishment.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Besides the obvious Greco-Roman influence, the Hades sequence includes Egyptian iconography like pyramids and Pharaohs.
- Genre Deconstruction: Of the Road Trip Plot. While Tom and Natascha embark on a road trip and become closer as a result, they're still unhappy with themselves and their lives, and ultimately it's returning home that puts them on the path to self-actualization.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In-universe, Tom's music was more successful in Europe than in America, where he lived.
- Loser Protagonist: Both Tom and Natascha are has-beens who only succeed in fantasies, and whether they can be successful or even happy in real life is something the film explores and repeatedly denies. Even the happy ending has them giving up on their dreams and going home.
- Maybe Ever After: The film ends with Tom meeting Natascha at a church in her home village, where they may or may not find happiness together.
- Rescued from the Underworld: In his dream sequence, Tom, as Orpheus, goes to rescue Natascha from Karl, who are Eurydice and Hades, respectively. Seeing Karl's reflection in the mirror makes him turn back and lose Natascha.
- Road Trip Plot: The story revolves around a washed-up musician meeting a runaway ballerina on his contractually obligated tour of Europe. It then deconstructs the genre by showing that, while they do become closer, it doesn't make them any happier or closer to understanding themselves and that going home may lead to self-actualization.
- Runaway Bride: Tom meets Natascha shortly after she's run away from her wedding to Karl.
- Virtuous Bees: Natascha has a connection to bees due to being raised on a bee farm, and in the finale of Tom's dream sequence bees bring her back to life after she's shot.
