SKETCHES OF LOU
by Lisa Blatter SWITZERLAND / 2016 / 82´
PRESS
"Es ist ein Beispiel für jene neue Schweizer Filmwelle, die zur Zeit die nationale Szene aufmischt.." - ZFF
CREW
Cinematographer GAËTAN VARONE Editor MYRIAM FLURY Art direction MIRJAM ZIMMERMANN, VALERIA FELDER Originalsound MARKUS EGLOFF Sounddesign Maurizius Staerkle Drux Sound Editors Bernhard Köpke, Dani Hobi Music HANS-JAKOB MÜHLETHALER Producer Lisa Blatter, Rhea Plangg, Julia Tal Company 2:1 Film ZüricH
SYNOPSIS
Lou (29) is a present-day nomad. Forever in search of the ultimate kind of freedom, she’s long ago blocked out what it is she is actually running from. At home everywhere and nowhere. Living a now-now life. Click and - next, please. Until she meets Aro (35) and Aro is different. Even if he preaches the same sermon: Just make sure not to define the status of the relationship you’re in and enjoy the summer while it lasts, not committing to anything.
And yet, without looking for it, they get under each other’s skin. Now there are expectations, jealousy nags and contradicts their frantic pursuit of independence. All of a sudden, Lou does not know anymore what it is all about. Where does she come from? Where does she belong?
With her film „Skizzen von Lou“ (Sketches by Lou), Lisa Blatter dares looking underneath the veneer of the young and fast-paced Zurich. In her quiet film, she offers a very detailed observation as well as critique of her generation’s superficial longing for freedom. It’s a story about loneliness, home and family.
And yet, without looking for it, they get under each other’s skin. Now there are expectations, jealousy nags and contradicts their frantic pursuit of independence. All of a sudden, Lou does not know anymore what it is all about. Where does she come from? Where does she belong?
With her film „Skizzen von Lou“ (Sketches by Lou), Lisa Blatter dares looking underneath the veneer of the young and fast-paced Zurich. In her quiet film, she offers a very detailed observation as well as critique of her generation’s superficial longing for freedom. It’s a story about loneliness, home and family.
STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR
"One question I keep coming back to is whether our society’s search for freedom has become so overwhelming it’s turned into a paralyzing force. Whatever we do, we can do out of our own free will – without being restricted by economic restraints in the struggle for survival. We’re prisoners caught in the rat race of individualized affluence and the projection of freedom. True masters of repression, we run, as soon as we run the risk of getting to know ourselves – in reality as well as in the figurative sense. However, we all get to the point where we are lonely, in a void, waiting – but for what? We are so busy with our self-fulfillment, we forget to stand still, take a breath and think of what happiness actually is made of: love maybe, family and solidarity?
With my film, I ask whether love has the power to unravel everything. The deeper the relationship between Aro and Lou becomes, the more they let this happen, the more they realize how lonely their lives are and ultimately, how scared they are of their lives. This war-of-attrition back and forth - that I’m sure we all know from our own love lives - is what fascinates me. To me, this is a fight for belonging and letting happen. I understand love to be a trigger of the desire for wanting to let go of old patterns. Love is caring for another, irrespective of one’s much feared flaws, regardless of the price tag attached. Even running from love will lead us back to our deepest traumas, to overcome which somehow remains a goal in life – in the end, it’s all about coming home."
