A bittersweet study

on getting older. 

writer / director | Hedda Bednarszky
music | Didone Abbandonata - Nuria Rial, Maurice Stegler, Basler Kammerorchester
 

Growing up, I was haunted by the idea that women stop living by the time they reach thirty.

This was mainly due to a book that we all had to read in school. The story was about a student who falls in love with an enigmatic young girl named Otilia. The girl breaks his heart and decides to marry someone else.Ten years later he sees a picture of Otilia, now in her thirties, and hardly recognizes her. He is horrified to see that all of her femininity has faded and the girl he once loved no longer exists. This is how the book ends.

It came as a shock to me and probably to many other young girls of my generation. How can a person just fade away with age? Despite the very absurd and misogynistic claim that a woman’s life stops at thirty, I wanted to reflect on my experience of turning thirty.

To my surprise, I'm still the same person, definitely with better standards and unfortunately yes, a bad haircut.

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screenings

Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2021, Confessions Guardini Stiftung 2022