A Long Goodbye

This tender VR experience begins in an empty world. Only when the cassette recorder starts playing and a man’s voice recounts a long life together does an environment appear in watercolor-like animation: a kitchen, a writing desk, a sitting area. Many objects are labeled with Post-it notes carrying memories, explanations, or instructions—“don't forget to feed the fish.”

This is the world of 72-year-old Ida, who lives with dementia. She is guided through the day, through her house and through her memories by the voice on the cassettes, which the viewer can play or stop at will. It is the voice of her husband Daniel, who takes Ida and us on a gentle journey through a reality that is slowly fading.

With intimate voice work (in the English version by actors Elizabeth Counsell and Richard Wells) and musical details by neoclassical pianist Joep Beving, we are immersed in a world marked by loss and loneliness, but where love still prevails.