Jacqueline Zünd
Switzerland | 2019 | 78 min
Swiss Premiere
Languages : Swiss German, French
Subtitles : English, French
Jacqueline Zünd seeks to capture what remains unexpressed. She selected five children to attempt to grasp what happens for them when parents separate. These children have had/have to rebuild a daily life in two houses, make two distinct worlds theirs. In front of the camera, they focus on their situation and, with insight, find words for their emotions (the parents’ opinions having been voluntarily removed from the film). Whether grasping the tension of the parental changeover beneath a blazing sun on a motorway car park, or capturing the solitary wait in the darkness of a basement playing a video game, the filmmaker skilfully weaves these interviews with scenes of play or the day-to-day, paying particular attention to sensations. Where We Belong is an impressionist film and as such often plays with light. The radical transitions between acid pop colours and sombre atmospheres speak as much as the children’s words of the difficulty of knowing their place in this situation.
Madeline Robert