2008 Films

Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy / Paradise

• Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy

  
  2007. USA. 40 mins. Directed by Alice Elliott. Produced by Simone Pero Audi.

  Two longtime companions who live together against all the odds are the subject of this deeply engaging portrait. Kathy has cerebral palsy and speaks through an electronically generated voice, and her friend and caregiver, Diana, has Down’s syndrome and works to heal from her abusive childhood. Refusing to live in the institutions that would claim to serve them, Diana and Kathy fight tenaciously not only for their own independence but for the rights of all people with disabilities. NK

• Paradise

  
  2007. Sweden. 58 mins. Directed by Jerzy Sladkowski. Produced by Antonio Russo Merenda.
  North American Premiere

  Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage was never this much fun! In this closely observed Swedish film about an older married couple, the overbearing Hans plays the trumpet while using the upscale outhouse at their lakeside cottage—with the door wide open. His wife, Kerstin, defies her irascible mate by rowing herself out to a nearby island to pick lingonberries. And that’s only the beginning. A dubious decorating project exposes the sharply conflicting aesthetic visions and interpersonal styles of these fierce individualists. This wry, absorbing, and beautifully shot film treats the profound and absurd elements of coupledom with delicacy and humor, offering insight into how relationships stand the test of time. MP

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