ECC XXI

European Cultural Cinema of the 21stcentury

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Somnambulance is a 2003 movie made in Estonia. Autumn,1944, Estonia. Tens of thousands of people leave their homeland in fear of approaching frontline. Some seashore villages remain completely empty. A young woman with huge grey eyes gets off the boat. Eetla leaves the last boat, thus giving up her last chance to escape. Defying the cold wind and rain of September, she returns to the lighthouse which is unexpected to her father Gottfrid, the lighthouse keeper, and herself. Eetla's return becomes her self-encounter and self-recognition. Why is Eetla terrified of reality?Is she fearing what tomorrow may bring? Eetla seeks refuge in her dreams, either dreamt or not dreamt ones, recounting them to her father or to a young doctor, a war refugee Kasper, or herself. It does not matter to whom. Reciting keeps alive the moment in between what has passed and what will come, in between yesterday and nescience. Like a prayer driven by fear to lose her balance or like the balance between being awake and asleep. This fear to yield is Eetla's fear. Somnambulance is a psychological drama about the fear of losing balance.Summary Source

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