EUROPE, SHE LOVES

by Jan Gassmann
GERMANY / SWITZERLAND / 2016 / 110´

PRESS


"IT EXAMINES THE STATES OF MIND OF HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES FROM SEVILLE, TALLINN AND DUBLIN TO THESSALONIKI. IN PASSING, IT ALSO - LACONICALLY, HUMOROUSLY, PENSIVELY, SEXILY – MEASURES THE TEMPERATURE OF A PATIENT CALLED EUROPE."
- cineurope

"DER FILM IST BEEINDRUCKEND, NUR SCHON ALS VERSUCH, DIE REALITÄT HINTER DER EUROPÄISCHEN IDEE AUFZUSPÜREN.
- SRF.ch



CREW


Cinematographer Ramon Giger Editor MIRIAM MÄRK, ROLAND VON TESSIN, JACQUES L’AMOUR Art direction ANNE WEICK Originalsound FABIAN GUTSCHER Sounddesign Maurizius Staerkle Drux Music LIBRARY TAPES , JULIA KENT , KWEST Producer Lisa Blatter, Jan Gassmann, ANDREAS HÖRL Company 2:1 Film ZüricH


SYNOPSIS


Four couples struggle on the edge of mother Europe. In countries troubled by economic and social crises they stumble through life with charme, sex and plenty of passion. A movie about the politics of love. In Sevilla JUAN, 21, and CARO, 23, experience the wonder of a young love. However, Juan is without a plan for the life that lies ahead of him and she desperately needs one. SIOBHAN, aged 28, and TERRY, 23, live in Dublin. When they first met they have fallen for love and heroin like other young habitants of this cold weathered town. But now sober for some time, on their way to lead a common life, their passion seems to disappear. In Tallinn, close to the northeastern border of Europe, VERONIKA, a 29 year old go-go dancer, and her partner HARRI, 31, find themselves caught up in the toil of a patchwork family. Her oldest son proves to be a challenge for Veronikas confidence in Harri. She wants him to accept Artur as his own. Meanwhile in Thessaloniki, Greece, PENNY, 23, is about to leave her longtime lover NIKO, 33, to go to work in Italy. But how do you leave someone who loves you too much?


STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR


"Autumn comes along in Europe and the streets are boiling. The whole is reflected in its parts - and vice versa. Just as decisions have to be made in Brussels, be it out of rational, emotional or economic reasons, we can observe the same structures in the smallest of groups; a relationship. This documentary about four couples on the edge of Europe becomes a parable of a continent. I‘m portraying my generation, the forgotten, the lost, the dissatisfied. Young people between twenty and thirty. A film without much political talking, but filmed in settings and places, where the political future of Europe will be decided. Four times love. Why? The contrast of the public and private space will convey the feeling of a continent in upheaval. While my protagonists stand in line for work and food, they try to get things to work and survive together. If we go even nearer, words disappear, no one talks anymore, there are only feelings. A touch, a look. In this film I was looking for those interstitials, spaces that usually are being filled with facts. What makes life worth living, if not love? I think documentary filmmaking should not leave the field of love to fiction film and hide behind scientific theories. And also politics should not only be commented in a rational way. A documentary film should transport emotions like any other cinematic genre. The more subjective a film is filmed and edited, the more condensed and precise the look on the topic becomes. No film is neutral.

This is my movie about us, the time bombs, the forgotten with unsure future, but with a lot of love."  


AWARDS


*FFA Förderpreis, dok fest münchen 2016

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