Lamento

Swedish audio with German subtitles. With dogged determination, Sara's mother Magdalena builds a wall of routine and daily rituals behind which she hides from the pain of her daughter's death. She picks up her grandson from piano lessons, has dinner with his family, and goes to a bar. Laboriously and very slowly, grief makes its way through denial, speechlessness, and feelings of guilt, culminating in a disturbing dam burst. A quiet, enigmatic, and very touching film about the lies and secrets a mother tries to spin herself into after the incomprehensible loss of her child. Cinematically mature, with clever image and lighting design, soft tones, and very unusual actors, LAMENTO impresses above all with its narrative maturity, in which intensity arises from simplicity. LAMENTO premiered at the 2014 Berlinale in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The film received a lot of attention there for its clear signature style and the subtle interplay of documentary sobriety and emotional depth. Produced in Germany and Sweden, the work marks the feature film debut of Jöns Jönsson, who had previously been represented at international festivals with his short films. A precise, quiet drama about what remains unsaid—and the emptiness that arises when certainties disappear.