To
die or not to die that is
the question in the new film from
Berlinale veteran Ventura
Pons. After having presented
two successful features, Caricies
(1997) and Amic/Amat (1998),
both in the Panorama, this year
he is back with a narrative experiment
based on the Catalan dramatist Sergi
Bebel's play "Morir" and
inspired by his own experience.
By
linking seven individual stories
in a humorous way and telling each
one in two different versions, he
explores the fragility of human
life and the possibilities of story-telling.
While
in the first part of the film each
of the stories ends with the death
of the protagonist, in the second
part, the characters receive a second
chance to live.
"On
the one hand it is a story about
a second chance," states Pons, "and
on the other hand the text gave
me the opportunity to establish
an anti-conventional narrative structure."
Uli
Decker
