A doctor who lives alone attending a family reunion. A man and woman having a crisis discussion at their home. A priest praying. A factory worker on the nightshift. A married couple with therapy experience negotiating how to best fulfil their wishes. Different ways of conducting life and relationships in a Western European country at the start of the 21st century.
What makes a good life? Five documentary miniatures show different models for dealing with life, for shaping life and love. Job, family and a house with a garden are the central parameters here – five doses of normality with a thin line separating success, happiness and desolation. The focus is on the faces and speech patterns of the protagonists as well as their domestic interiors, tables and beds. Stylised images with strict framings. The camera records and directs in equal measure, presenting living conditions in a precise, unvarnished manner in static, often symmetrically composed shots. This sense of dispassion is echoed by the disciplined feelings, formulaic verbal practice and tidiness, all of which reveal the state of society. A striking portrait of minds and social mores. (Birgit Kohler)
Production: KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production, Wien
Screenplay: Ruth Mader
Camera: Jörg Gönner
Format: DCP, colour
Running time: 79 min
Language: German
What Is Love
Ruth Mader
Austria 2012
