Jean (not Sibelius) is moving to a new address

French star will soon be able to wave to his namesake across the park

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By Lotta Lehtonen in Töölö, Helsinki
     
     
      Translator’s Note: Let’s face it, the Finns are not exactly renowned for their sense of the eccentric, unless it is cached in those strange "World Championship" competitions (mosquito-swatting, sauna-sitting, mobile phone-throwing) that are often arranged in connection with festivals in the provinces. Urban life here seems pretty ordered and ordinary, even dull, at least on the surface. But there ARE small glimmers of hope...
     
      In a ground-floor window of an apartment on Caloniuksenkatu in the Töölö district of Helsinki, a life-sized cardboard figure of Jean Reno looks out at passers-by. The black and white image of the much-loved French actor has followed the daily goings-on of the Töölö residents, and they in their turn have followed Jean’s progress at three different addresses in the district since 1999.
      Reno’s owner Jere Willberg rescued his favourite movie star from a trip to the garbage tip when he extricated the cardboard cut-out from a dumpster, after a cinema had finished screening the gangster classic Leon.
      Willberg was heading abroad, and he left Jean in the care of his sister Terri, who lived on the square known as Töölöntori. At some point, the sister got fed up with a neighbour who kept peering in the windows, and she placed the cardboard Reno up as an obstacle to his curiosity.
      Jean Reno had arrived in Töölö.
     
When brother and sister subsequently moved a short distance to an apartment in Töölönkatu, Frenchman Reno naturally took up residence in front of the window leading to the small step-out French balcony. This offered him a view over the Töölö Accident and Emergency Unit, always a busy and interesting spot.
      At Christmas, the actor got into the party spirit by donning a bright red gnome’s cap, while as the picture shows he is currently sporting a beret set at a rakish angle.
      "Many got a bit frightened of Reno at first, but after a while they started waving to him. When we were living on Töölönkatu we also had offers from people wanting to buy him", recalls Willberg.
     
Jere and Terri moved again, this time to Caloniuksenkatu, around 500 metres away. Many of Jean Reno's new friends worried at this point that the local movie star had finally been consigned to the dustbin.
      "One couple were seriously disappointed when they no longer saw Reno's figure in the window. Then one day the woman was riding the tram past our place on Caloniuksenkatu and she spotted him. She immediately called her husband to inform him that Jean was back in town", laughs Jere Willberg.
     
This summer, Reno was also discovered by the tourists: at least one largish group of English lads were seen posing for holiday snaps next to him.
      At the end of the month, Töölö’s very own cardboard actor-in-residence will be moving yet again, but he will not be leaving the district.
      "Next month, Reno will be looking out over the Sibelius Park", reveals Willberg.
      Jean meets Jean. It has a nice symmetry.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.9.2004


Links:
  Jean Reno (IMDB)

PIPSA LOTTA LEHTONEN / Helsingin Sanomat
lotta.lehtonen@sanoma.fi