"vogelfrei" - i had seen that film as a teenager and all i can remember is, that it impressed and irritated me a lot and that it was about this landstreicher, this girl on the road, who would never say "thanks" or "please".
a guy i vaguely knew but liked a lot, had recommended it to me. together with "zementgarten" and "tee im harem des archimedes" - (and "birdie" but i did not like that one so much). i didn't really know that guy, we hardly saw eachother, sometimes bumped into eachother at a party or a concert of the local band. i cannot even recall his name. but he left a mark, a quiet one, a beautiful one. and so i had to think about other people i met at some point in my life, who were important for a while and to a certain degree shaped the way i perceive the world. and i don't have a clue where they are now, what they do, if they are still alive.
two days ago i found out by chance, that this film will be screened at a
cinema nearby, that the original title is "sans toit ni loi" that it is by wonderful
agnes varda, who was also there in person, and stars young
sandrine bonnaire. saskia walker did the interview after the screening, a transcript can be found in
revolver 24.
the
film starts with the girl lying dead at the side of the road. in the voice-over varda says: "since nobody claimed the body, it was burried at the local cementary. this victim of a natural death did not leave a trace. i ask myself who of those who knew her as a child still remember her. the people who recently met her, do remember her. and with the help of their statments i can recount the last few weeks of her life. they were all impressed by her. when they spoke about her, they did not know that she was dead. i did not tell them and also did not mention her name: mona berger. i myself know little about her. but i believe she came from the sea."
a film about what it takes and what it means to be independent. and whether independence and freedom are the same. and how far you can go before it kills you.
