So Long, My Heart!
The film relates the story of three people who get to know each other at their jobs at a Mannheim eldercare facility, and along the way learn the meaning of love.
The caregiver, 42-year old Holger (Tom Jahn) spends his life seemingly following an orderly path, but is fleeing his messy, disorderly relationships in Berlin.
He moves to southern Germany, where in his new surroundings, he falls in love with 49-year old Barbara (Pola Kinski), who has been employed in the same nursing home as a kitchen hand for many years. Their affection for each other is strong, and they powerfully close ranks when head nurse Petra Opels (Isolde Fischer) begins to express her enthusiasm for Holger.
The somewhat crazy Mrs Kramer (Lieselotte Langer) is brought to the point of seeing “pop-song singing ghosts” (mardi gras.bb). The old, feeble lady with her Zimmer frame becomes a metaphor for awakening and for life itself.
“The protagonists are absolutely maginificent and the film has a tragicomical charme one has to look very hard for in today’s cinema.”
Swiss Radio DRS
“A touching comedy about ordinary, lonely people, an outstanding feel-good movie without any shallowness or false compromise.”
Berner Zeitung
Director’s note
“Since 2001 we have jointly produced various improvised films and have continually developed our improvisational techniques and ideas. We have come to recognize that improvisation is seen to lead to a kind of accidental product. We would like to say clearly and straightforwardly that improvisation is both an art form and a craft for us.
For us improvisation means a permanent involvement with the here and now, whether in the kitchen, on the stage, in music or in film. Improvisation requires an ability to relate to each other and at the same time to observe and see opportunity in our work.
The interactions of jazz musicians makes that visibly clear: the teamwork of the musicians follows not only their intuition, but also clear rules, like the importance of accepting given ideas (or rhythms), and then to move beyond that into further areas of creativity.”
“A more heartwarming, more wise and more sympathetic film portraying its protagonists with empathy instead of exploiting them, is hard to find nowadays.”
Stuttgarter Zeitung
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Awards
_____________________________
Special Critic’s Award - Schermi d’Amore IFF Verona, 2007
Audience Award - 30th Grenzland Filmtage Selb, 2007
Best Feature Film - 5th Non-Budget IFF Cuba, 2007
Grand Prix - 15th IFF Varna, Bulgaria, 2007
Special Jury Award - Listapad, IFF Minsk, Belarus, 2007
Cast & Crew
_____________________________________with: Tom Jahn, Pola Kinski, Isolde Fischer, Lieselotte Langer
Stefan Hillebrand, Oliver Paulus - screenplay
Stefan Hillebrand, Oliver Paulus - directors
Stefan Hillebrand, Oliver Paulus - producers
Daniela Knapp - director of photography
Diana Wagner - production design
André Bigoudi - editor
Ramón Orza - sound design
Stefan Müller, Hendrik Wilhelms - sound mix
Doc Wenz & Mardi Gras.bb - music
a Motorfilm - Frischfilm Production
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