Orchids

2008

Mini DV video, 4:3, German with English subtitles, 21:12 min

 

In »Orchids« a 72 year old woman is telling stories about her life, especially about her relationship with her gay friend Peter, whom she married a couple of years ago. It´s about friendship, relationship, sex, love and family. These terms are mentioned in the story again and again, negotiating their possible meanings and problematizing their common definitions. The narrator stays invisible and also the questions she refers to are cut out. The narrative of this special relationship is told only by her protagonist. Images are shown which are related to the text but without showing any of the involved people or places. The images are all still images coming from different sources like newspapers, movies, a personal archive and from the Internet. They are synchronized with the narration, some appear several times and in some cases are animated with simple camera movements and cross-fadings. From time to time the still images follow the narration, offering a possible visualization of the narrative, but detach from the text to open up for a parallel narrative.