Standby [Me]

Switzerland, 2003
FILM, Documentary, 11 min.

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directed by
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Written by
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Status
In distribution
Website
www.ecal.ch

She's waiting for her Prince Charming to return. Niight and day she waits for him; he has gone to Italy and she doesn't know when he'll be back. In a series of images drawn from everyday life, Marie-Eve Hildbrand composes the story of this girl who sys to herself that the telephone was made to call people. Told in the third person singular, the waiting in anguish for a hypothetical sign on the part of the loved one gradually leads to a broken heart. Supported by the filmmaker's voice-over, each shot denotes her sidenchanted view of her surroundings. Rumpled sheets, keys hidden in a flowerpot, she says to herself that Romeo and Juliet avoided many problems for themselves. Sequences where characters inervene alternate with moments of withdrawal. But neither the co-tenants, nor friends or even Penelope's girlfriend have the magic recipe that might bring her relief from despair. The filmmaker cleverly juxtaposes detailed action shots: a heart painted on the footplate of an attraction at the Luna Park, a girl in a mini-skirt, and a red-white-and-green flag. Thus she composes brief visual puzzles. The elaborate montage is far from the one-word-one-shot equation and invites the spectator to prolong the verbal assertions witz images. In the manner of a small poem compsed of snippets of moments, the film raltes witz humour and self-derision the cruel disappointment of a love story that ends. Each detail captured, however trivial, takes on a meaning in the eyes of the young girl and becomes potential material for the narrative.

credits

World Premiere
2003
Original Version
French,  colour, Beta SP, 11 min.
Production
École cantonale d'art de Lausanne Département Cinéma
Producer
directed by
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Written by
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Cinemato­graphy
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Editing
Marie-Eve Hildbrand
Location Sound Mix
Marie-Eve Hildbrand

World Sales / World Rights

World Rights
École cantonale d'art de Lausanne

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