DEPARTURE

  • Ludwig Wüst

An Austrian road movie and perhaps the closest to Robert Frank when it comes to blending landscape and history into one's own biography. "A stripped-back story in equally sparse images" (Dominik Kamalzadeh). Although in this case, the "sparseness" has a cathartic character.

A man (Ludwig Wüst) and a woman (Claudia Martini) meet by chance - both burdened with existential experiences - and decide, practically without saying a word, to go part of their way together. He drives a so-called alcoholic car, a kind of cabin scooter for which you don't need a driver's license. She has him build her a wooden cross and sets off on her last journey.

Together they chug through an autumnal vanitas no-man's land, masterfully photographed by Klemens Koscher, who "conjures up the spiritual behind the material surfaces" (Christoph Huber). Ludwig Wüst: "The Japanese proverb 'Mono no aware - mourning for the flow of things' inspired me to make this film. A film that sent us on an intensive expedition, a cinematic journey to the last things that have already partly disappeared and will no longer be possible tomorrow. What comes after that?"

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