The Good Life

Colour, HD CAM
Denmark, 2010, 87 min
Section: Documentary Films in Competition

Synopsis

"In my case, work is a taboo subject,” says 57-year-old Annemette Beckmann straight into the camera, a woman who was brought up like a princess, revelling in luxury in opulent surroundings, and never had to do a day’s work. Now she lives with her mother in a small flat in the Portuguese town of Cascais. There are only 20 Euros left of the mother’s pension to last them for the next two weeks, they are up to their eyes in debt and, when they can’t pay the dentist, they give him an old painting instead. Annemette’s father went bankrupt and the former Danish millionaires now have absolutely nothing. Award-winning documentarist Eva Mulvad closely follows their desperate situation and, via old family video shots, she also recalls the wealth both women had at their disposal in the past. This compelling portrait of the complex coexistence of a mother and daughter who fell from the heights of luxury to the very depths, eloquently shows the unpredictable way in which life trifles with people’s destinies.

About the director

Eva Mulvad (b. 1972, Denmark) is a graduate of the Danish National Film School. She began working for the Danish TV station DR TV in 1997 as a documentary filmmaker and she is also co-owner of Danish Documentary Production. In 2006 she was awarded the WIFT (Women in Film and TV) international award for young talented filmmakers. Her film Enemies of Happiness (Vores lykkes fjender, 2006) won the Silver Wolf in Amsterdam and the Jury Prize at Sundance.