Passing Summer

I've seen almost all of Angela Schanelec's films (those available with subtitles), and I still cannot accurately explain why I enjoy them so much. Her films are reminiscent of Eric Rohmer's works, in the sense that scenes, characters, along with settings are meticulously placed, to achieve a realness that, on the surface, for the casual viewer, may seem trivial. Schanelec's touch, however, is to limit the dialogue, letting body language and the silence in-between the dialogue do the talking.

A film about several persons shown in different constellations talking to each other about their inner feelings, relationship problems, future plans, and so on. As the original title ("My slow life") indicates, it is a very slow film with hardly any action at all, more a sequence of still photographs than a movie - even the camera hardly ever moves. Rather, the camera looks for, and finds, beautiful views of silence and peace, thus reflecting what the persons shown are looking for. A very homogeneous, credible film, without any hectic or loud moments. A film for the late evening, with a glass of whisky in your hand.