The Good Life (2010) ( Zoi harisameni )

The Good Life (2010) (DVD) (*)

~~$27.99~~ $21.97

Original Title: Zoi harisameni
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Danish ( Dolby Digital 5.1 )
Danish ( Subtitles )
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Denmark ( PAL/Region 0 )

Running Time:
87 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Deleted Scenes
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Uncut

Movie filmed in 2010 and produced in:
Denmark ( Scandinavia, Iceland )

Directed By:
Eva Mulvad

Written By:
Eva Mulvad

Actors:
Annemette Beckmann ..... Herself
Mette Beckmann ..... Herself

Synopsis:

Two ladies - mother and daughter - live on the sunny Portuguese coast. Throughout their entire lives, they have had more than enough money to live the good life - no work and lots of pleasure. But now they have a problem: Their wealth has run out! A jet set upper-class life is substituted by unpaid bills and by a constant fear of not being able to pay next month's rent - and the daughter, who has never worked a day in her life, is now forced to forget her decadent lifestyle and try to create an independent life for herself at the age of 56.
We meet the little family when the father has just died. Mother and daughter have unwillingly had to move from their huge luxurious home into a small flat - which they can hardly afford. The mother gets a Danish pension, but that is far from enough to cover the monthly expenses of two grown women who are used to having all the money they need. So Anne Mette and her mother Mette borrow money from friends, shop on credit at the local grocery stores and pay their dentist with a painting from their living room wall. Anne Mette tries to find a job, but it is more than difficult to enter a strained job market in times of worldwide economical crisis with an empty CV and a rich kid attitude.

We've always had what we needed, and then some. And now we don't have anything. Such is the predicament of Mette Beckmann and her middle-aged daughter Anne, two women suddenly facing an unfamiliar nemesis-poverty-in this compelling and timely documentary by Eva Mulvad. Against the picturesque backdrop of a Portuguese resort town, The Good Life chronicles Mette and Anne's reluctance to surrender the opulent lifestyle they have enjoyed for decades far south of their native Denmark. While the elderly and pragmatic Mette makes feeble attempts to ensure the pair's survival, her entitled daughter desperately clings to delusions of their family's former grandeur. Bitterly lamenting a present reality for which she feels unprepared, Anne assuages the harsh challenges of adult life with frequent sunbathing, the frivolous pursuit of material objects and a particularly virulent strain of naïveté. The quotidian struggles of this tragic and often entertaining duo are thoughtfully juxtaposed with the overwhelming beauty of Portugal's coast. With a film that unapologetically parallels Albert and David Maysles' 1975 classic Grey Gardens, Mulvad not only crafts an engaging narrative but also highlights a series of issues increasingly at the forefront of modern society. As the world prepares to face the consequences of widespread irresponsibility-both financial and otherwise-many people find themselves in situations not unlike that of Anne and Mette. Mulvad's memorable protagonists point to the uncertainty of the human condition and offer a glimpse into a fate from which none of us is necessarily exempt.

A glimpse of the wealth that a family once possessed, but now there is nothing left. Fifty-six-year-old Anne Mette and her mother were forced to trade their villa in Portugal for a small apartment, where they now live on a small pension. Despite all of this, Anne Mette does not quite grasp that the days of servants, beachfront property and lounging about by the pool are gone for good. She still acts like a spoiled little princess, once adored by her filthy-rich father. Her mother gets the blame for their current living situation, but she is also the only other person Anne Mette can watch the old home movies with and dream about the good old days.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 07 June, 2011.

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