«To the end of dreams»

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

To the end of dreams tells the extraordinary story of Katharina von Arx and Freddy Dilhon, two people who both want to follow their own personal paths and live their great love together. It's also the story of a residence that takes up so much space that it gives rise to a kind of ménage à trois. Both a documentary and a work of fiction, the film tells a true story that took place in Switzerland.

The «docu-drama» opens with a fireplace; a house is being renovated. The house is a priory in Romainmôtier in the canton of Vaud. Journalist and writer Katharina and photographer Freddy, who met on a trip to Polynesia, moved into this house as soon as their daughter was born. «I love the calm of this house, and its old-fashioned spirit. This is where we want to live and work,» says the young Katharina - played by the excellent and ravishing Sabine Timoteo, three-time winner of the Swiss Film Prize.

«Katharina, we're putting all our energy and money into this house,» wearily replies the young Freddy - played by the talented and elegant Christophe Sermet - who languishes in this environment. His wife's fascination with their home soon turns to intense love, threatening the passion between the two young parents. At the same time, Katharina seems to see her husband's discomfort with the house as a pretext for a deeper malaise: «you hate the silence here because you hate yourself.» This is the heart of the film, leading to the couple's crisis and Freddy's departure for England, which does not mean the end of their love.

The primary strength of To the end of dreams, The second strength of the film is its music, a rare delicacy. Composer Balz Bachmann won the Suisa Foundation Award for best film score last year, when he won the Suisa Foundation Award for best film score. The second strength of the film is its music, of a rare finesse: its composer Balz Bachmann was awarded the Suisa Foundation Prize for best film music at last year's Locarno Festival.

With this singular documentary, author and historian Wilfried Meichtry signs his first film. It's a creation that's totally in keeping with Swiss cinema, with its own distinctive rhythm and authenticity, which is not without its demands on the viewer. The viewer won't find himself confronted with a blockbuster not a mainstream film, but a feature-length film in which the story's particularity and its artistic treatment are paramount.

To be published in our March issue: our interview with director Wilfried Meichtry.

Write to the author : jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Frenetic Films