Houchang Allahyari is a tireless worker in local cinema and has brought very personal works to the screen with “The Last Dance” or his tribute to Ute Bock (eg “Ute Bock Superstar”). In his latest project, the 83-year-old devotes himself in a simple way to a topic as sensitive as it is: dementia and the question of what it does to people and their loved ones. Starting Thursday, “And Fresh Love Every Day” can be seen in select cinemas.
In fact, Allahyari had other things in mind when he started filming. The director originally wanted to cast Vienna's former “King of the Machines,” Ferry Ebert, who is still known to old-timers today for his machines that contained everything from condoms to candy. But he met Ebert's wife Amalia, who had long suffered from dementia – and the single image of the striking figure became a portrait of a decades-long love.
Allahyari accompanied 89-year-old Ebert and his partner for several months. It shows the difficulties of daily life that inevitably arise, showing Amalia's desperation as the affected person and Ferry as the indirectly affected person. Above all, “And Newly in Love Every Day” shows how these two people who have been together for a long time master their daily lives with love.
And last but not least, Amalia, regardless of the changes she perceives – “Something has slipped away from me,” she once said – remains an incorrigible optimist, who enjoys life and makes it clear more than once: “I enjoy doing it.” Lots of things.” In this regard, Amalia Ebert is perhaps not a completely typical “case” of someone with dementia, just as the Eberts cannot stand on equal footing with others.
However, Allahyari shows something through the phrase “and in love every day” that is known to many people and will become known to many during their lifetime. He approaches his peers in his spare time and gives them time. In the end, the work does not require much embellishment, even if here and there cartoons by Hans Bender illustrate something of Ferry Ebert's life or brief and somewhat inconsistent vocal disturbances reflect Amalia's perception.
“It was a beautiful time,” Ebert said on the occasion of their 65th wedding anniversary, which they both widely celebrate. Beautiful attitude to life.
(By Martin Fechter-Voss/APA)
(Service – www.moviemento.at/film/und-taeglich-frisch-verliebt)
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