TOUT UN HIVER SANS FEU

Switzerland, 2004, 88 minutes, Colour.
Blerim Gjoci, Marie Matheron.
Directed by Greg Zglinski.

If one had asked the members of the jury SIGNIS during the Venice Film Festival, 2004, ten minutes into the film whether they thought it had a chance for any award, the response would have been a definite “No”. It opens bleakly with Swiss mountains, Swiss snow, falling trees, workers in the forests and suggestions that it will be another one of those very serious portraits of isolated people and their problems.

In a way, this is still the case. However, the humanity of the writing and the direction soon come through and the audience is emotionally affected by the characters and their difficulties. There is nothing particularly new, just the way that the director has skilfully drawn his characters and drawn the audience into empathy with them.

At the opening of the film, a couple has suffered the tragic loss of their only daughter, five years old, in a fire in their barn which has also destroyed the herd and buildings of their farm outside the town. The wife is not coping at all and has to go into an institution and undergo therapy to recover some kind of equilibrium. The husband, a stoic man, tries to manage on the farm but is unable to pay his way and relies on an old school friend to get a job in a factory.

This is where the film moves in an unexpected direction. A number of those working and holding managing positions in the factory are Kosovan refugees. When the man hears the story of the Kosovans, especially that of the cook to whom he is attracted and her six year search for her presumably dead husband, some of his own problems become insignificant. While he is infatuated with this young woman and befriended by her rather genial brother and invited to Kosovan celebrations, he is still devoted to his wife and very much concerned about how she is coping. His wife is influenced by her rather bitter sister who is quite antagonistic to her sister’s husband.

Not a great deal happens in terms of plot. There is an explanation of character, there is an insight into vulnerability, into strengths and weaknesses of human nature – and the possibility of some kind of mutual understanding and the possibilities for reconciliation. While there might not be much fire and heat during the winter, there is a great deal of humanity which offers some hope for warmth in the spring.

1.The Swiss atmosphere of the film? The mountains, the winter, the snows, the town, the factory? The audience immersed in this Swiss experience?

2.The title, the reference to the season, to the people feeling the cold, the lack of wood? The symbolism, Jean without warmth and fire, Laure? The Kosovo exiles?

3.The naturalism of the film, following the lives of these people over a short period? The detail of ordinary life? The musical score, the classics?

4.The opening, the felling of the tree, Jean, standing watching, in a daze? His friend cautioning him? Seeing Jean at work, milking the cows? The burned-down shed, his going to the cemetery, the information about his daughter’s death, her age? The later information about the wiring in the shed and the reason for the fire?

5.Jean as a good man, age, marriage to Laure, the attempt to have children, their love for the daughter, her death? His struggling to make ends meet? His wife grieving and not running their restaurant? The cows burning? His going to the insurance people, the possibility of selling – and the later documents, wanting his wife to sign? The buyer wanting him to rebuild the barn because he was superstitious?

6.Laure, at home by herself, grieving, not eating the meal, in her daughter’s room, painting her legs blue with her child’s colours? Jean and his desperation, taking her to the hospital? Her sister’s intervention, Jean getting his wife the room? His visits, attempts to talk? Watching her therapy and her anguish and scream? The sister taking her home, Jean’s anger, visit, being put off, the phone call? Taking his wife out to dinner, her watching the child, her running back to the hospital? New Year’s Eve, her sister preventing her going to the phone, Jean and his growing desperation, cutting her off? The wife seeing him with the Kosovo woman, talking with her sister, rebuking her sister, saying it was no-one’s fault? Her painting the house – a future with Jean or not?

7.Jean, meeting Roger, the discussions, the memories of school and their love for Laure? His getting a job at the factory, the hard work, the men helping? Meeting Kostriat? His friendliness, inviting him to the Kosovo reunion? Jean and his attraction towards his sister, at the meals? Defending her from the harassment? His going to the celebration, to the New Year? The growing intimacy between the two? Yet his reticence? His going out with the woman? Shopping? The final meeting, his anger with the man who harassed her, punching him? The men and their taking him away? His going to the mountain, coming home, telling the story to the woman? The indefinite future?

8.Laure’s sister, divorced, intervening, influencing her sister? Her sister rebuking her?

9.Kostriat, the stories from Kosovo, his sister waiting for her husband, six years? Their work in Switzerland? Lower jobs than at home? The reunions, the dancing, the party? Jean and his weeping with Kostriat’s sister – and Kostriat’s suspicions?

10.Roger, his helping with the job, his wariness about Jean’s relationship?

11.The detail of work in the factory, the canteen? The men, joking about sex…?

12.The open end – going back to Laure or going with the Kosovan woman?