IDFA 2006
Forever
Forever
Heddy Honigmann
Netherlands
2006
95 min
n.a.
The Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris is one of the most famous ones in the world, not
only because of the beautiful gravestones and the lovely street plan of this
necropolis, but also because of its occupants. Famous artists like Georges
Mélies, Oscar Wilde, Amedeo Modigliani, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Simone
Signoret, Yves Montand and Jim Morrison are united in eternity here. The
numerous visitors seek solace and reconciliation with mortality at the
graveyard. Forever shows how the dead live on, like ghosts in the
imagination of the living. Ultimately, a cemetery is above all a product of the human mind. "If we showed the graveyard in its true nature, it would be unbearable," someone says. "Someone left a pen, so he can keep on writing in the hereafter," an old woman observes as she cleans Marcel Proust's grave. A devotee of À la recherche du temps perdu states, "If your life is fulfilled by
Balzac's novels, Musset's poems and Chopin's music, you will never be alone." The film also pays attention to forgotten talents who never made it to their prime. And to the more anonymous deceased, only cherished in their next of kin's memory.
imagination of the living. Ultimately, a cemetery is above all a product of the human mind. "If we showed the graveyard in its true nature, it would be unbearable," someone says. "Someone left a pen, so he can keep on writing in the hereafter," an old woman observes as she cleans Marcel Proust's grave. A devotee of À la recherche du temps perdu states, "If your life is fulfilled by
Balzac's novels, Musset's poems and Chopin's music, you will never be alone." The film also pays attention to forgotten talents who never made it to their prime. And to the more anonymous deceased, only cherished in their next of kin's memory.
Credits
Screening copy
Eye Film Institute Netherlands
Eye Film Institute Netherlands
Distribution for the Netherlands
Cinema Delicatessen
Cinema Delicatessen
World Sales
Cobos Films
Cobos Films
Director
Production
Cinematography
Involved TV Channel
NTR
NTR