Constantin and Elena

"‘It’s really a pity I haven’t left it in. This is a genuine ‘darling’, Andrei Dascalescu says about this sequence. His film consists of a succession of domestic scenes featuring his grandparents, Constantin and Elena, all shot from the same camera angle. Thus, Dascalescu documented their daily routine: everything breathes love and harmony between the two elderly people. In this scene, conflict briefly flares up, or at least an underlying tensio... More

"‘It’s really a pity I haven’t left it in. This is a genuine ‘darling’, Andrei Dascalescu says about this sequence. His film consists of a succession of domestic scenes featuring his grandparents, Constantin and Elena, all shot from the same camera angle. Thus, Dascalescu documented their daily routine: everything breathes love and harmony between the two elderly people. In this scene, conflict briefly flares up, or at least an underlying tension, when Constantin quasi-seriously wonders whether he shouldn’t have been more of ‘a real man’. ‘A drunkard beating his wife.’ But oh well, Constantin is simply a softie, prepared to do anything for Elena. Affectionately, he strokes Elena’s back - it is the only time he touches her like this. ‘Too long and too dark’, Dascalescu judged, although it’s always hard and painful to cut out scenes. Initially, the film was intended as a happy love story of his grandparents, who have been together for over 50 years. But six months after Dascalescu had started shooting, his uncle died. ‘From that moment, death played an important role.’ Elena and Constantin meanwhile regularly reflect on their life, and their death, which ‘God willing’ will stay away for some time yet. Elena still wants to weave a few rugs, for her grandchildren’s dowries. Dascalescu filmed his grandparents for two years, in and around their house in a remote village in Rumania. He also did the editing at Constantin and Elena’s place. They occasionally looked over his shoulder. ‘They were surprised to see how they came across on film. They feel much younger.’" Quoting Marjanne de Haan from the program notes of the 2009 IDFA site.

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