strangers
A young womans life is portrayed through her role as a mother, which is routine but not overly dreary, and an apparently exciting job at the airports VIP desk. Kathrin Resetarits compact milieu study is extremely precise, demonstrating a great talent for observation and unobtrusive bias. (Andreas Ungerböck)
No out-of-the-ordinary events are to be found in this film. The most exciting element is the absolute transparency of what is portrayed, and an incredibly intricate and delicate texture takes shape before our eyes. This film makes no claims, and solely presents various situations in a calm manner. There are no psychologically charged moments. The way in which lines are delivered, the nuances in voice and language have a somewhat casual air. No specific social roles are presented; strategies of adaptation are tested without existential illumination. The only narrative elements do without fixed points and dramatic climaxes; they merely move along parallel paths and then drift apart.
Concerning the title, strangers: Who are they? Everyone and everything seems to fit this description to some extent.
This film has been carefully planned down to the last detail. The characters are often sealed off from one another in their own discrete spaces, separated by glass walls, partitions, screens, and sometimes even by means of the editing. Everyone stands alone within the frame. Cooperation requires previous negotiation. When this is successful, there are some light-hearted moments in which the important thing is not what is said, but the possibility of being together in the first place and whispering into the others ear.
After Egypt, the experiment in strangers goes farther with the fictitious documentary elements and the documented fictitious elements, with everything one can see and hear. Excellent! (Birgit Flos)
fremde
1999
Austria
29 min