Departure

Two bruised souls meet by chance, somewhere in the flat countryside. A man and a woman, both no longer young and both confronted with a great disappointment. They understand each other, even without many words, and give each other support on a common part of their lives. Cinema has taken many different directions in telling stories of despair, pain, grief and loneliness. This film takes a path all of its own. It leads from an abandoned carpenter's workshop to a run-down old house to a harbor area. The pace is unhurried, the area deserted. A bottle of schnapps, a bunch of gladioli, a few apples and potatoes, a photograph, a suitcase and a book of Russian poems - not much more is needed as an accessory for the minimalist plot. When the man is carving a wooden cross, it is one of several scenes in which hands can be seen at work. Between reduction and pathos, with impressively photographed images of great intensity and occasional powerful use of percussion, an intimate drama unfolds that revolves around the questions of where one comes from and where one is going.

"We are working on becoming human. That, to me, is the only discernible meaning of life." LUDWIG WÜST