Die Herbstzeitlosen

NCCU is promoting its new German resource database german2.nccu.edu.tw and introducing a series of German films. There is only one film from Switzerland which I just went to-- "Die Herbstzeitlosen", a hilariously funny Swiss film proving that even old widowed women can realize long forgotten and almost impossible dreams such as opening a "Lingerie Boutique" against traditional norms established under a male dominant and conservative society, where lingerie is considered to be related to filthy, sexual implications and definitely the last thing to choose as career for a widowed women with a son as a vicar.

Die Herbstzeitlosen was directed by female and in a sense, for female. All the four main characters were at least 75 of age with strong and vivid personalities. There we see amazing comeraderie sentiments among them even though each has a different story and problem. At the beginning, Martha didn't want to live after her husband passed away, and her vibrant friend Lisi encouraged her to pursue her long-abandoned dream since marriage. Frieda and Hanni reacted negatively and tried to disuade Martha. What was worse, Martha's son was the vicar of the village and got furious over Martha's decision to turn her husband's shop to a lingerie boutique. Guadually, Frieda and Hanni were influenced by Martha's unyielding attitude and turned to support her: Frieda put aside her conservative mindset and challenged herself by taking computer and internet course to sell lingerie on the web, while Hanni took up driving lessons to deliver the goods. Together they made the business a blast.

At a glance, it is a film about pursuing your dream. As you inspect further, gender issue, instead, is the essence of this film. For instance, the mystery of Lisi's optimism was later solved. Though a bit late. Her husband abandoned her when she was pregnant and left for America, where she pretended to have visited him for the sake of her daughter. When she pretended to have gone to America, everyone believed it. Even herself. After Martha's vicar son abruptly revealed this secret, the happy Lisi was gone, beaten by a fatal heart attack over excessive grief. A bolt out of the blue. What a surprising end to the most animated character. Women pretend. Women pretend to be strong, sacrifice for the face of loved ones and for their own dignity. But this doesn't mean they themselves accept the fact that they are just pretending.

Another topic was generation issue. Sadly, filial piety was nowhere to be seen, Martha's son and Hanni's son both expressed selfishness rather than respect for their mothers...It helps us to retrospect on our behavior towards our parents and grandparents. Familarity breeds contempt, from unnecessary ignorance, disrespect, misunderstanding, and communication deficiency.
Oh no, i'm getting too serious about a relaxing comedy full of laughters and joy. And Swiss German. Is it true that Swiss German only say "Merci" and "Salut" instead of Danke and Hallo? One peculiar thing I found: when Martha's son threw away all her exquisite hand-made undergarments, why the hell did the trash can reads "charitas", "Kinder..."? How can poor orphaned kids make use of those?

Watching it, I was thinking of my own grandma, a widowed opera singer who does stock transactions over the internet and always tries to learn new things and share with people. So even if you do not know how life is like for a widow, the film is still easily related to everyone, or at least it helps you think about what you would do when your loved ones are gone to heaven. On top of all, we should believe in our dreams and support the dreams of our loved ones, with a drop of imagination, humor, and passion for life.