The film’s portrayal of the painful stages of death of terminally ill patients from a palliative home-care nurse’s perspective is truly incredible. There is no black or white – writes Alicja Magdziak from LFF Media Group about “Ivo”.
“Ivo” directed by Eva Trobisch was the first full-length film played at this year’s Lublin Film Festival. The German director took on a very interesting, yet challenging narrative. The film’s portrayal of the painful stages of death of terminally ill patients from a palliative home-care nurse’s perspective is truly incredible.
Death does not only impact those who pass away. Oftentimes, the deaths of terminally ill patients affect their loved ones, friends, colleagues and caretakers. All those, who even in the slightest way, mourn the loss of their loved ones can find themselves in the grey zone of death. Doctors, nurses and other health professionals always remain “silent mourners” and thus, are left to deal with any tormenting feelings by themselves.
Every day, Ivo visits families, couples and single people. They live in small flats or large houses. She takes in their emotions, often forgetting her own needs, and in the aftermath, not being able to deal with personal hardships. Most of her life, the heroine takes care of others, but rarely takes care of herself.
“Ivo” can’t be described as a medical film. It is a film about the emotional and mental aspect of the profession of a palliative home-care nurse. Ivo becomes part of her patients’ families. She is not just a nurse, but also a companion, a friend or sometimes even a lover. But the deep bond she shares with her patients and their families ultimately takes a toll on her private life.
The film focuses mainly on the relationship between Ivo and her female patient that longs for death. The patient’s request for help in ending her life leaves the heroine extremely conflicted.
Eva Trobisch proves that the scariest part of one’s death isn’t death itself, but rather the awareness of leaving one’s loved ones forever.
This agitating character drama shows this problem in the most sincere and direct way possible. Love, attachment, hate, discouragement, stagnation, happiness – all these emotions appear on screen and don’t fail to stir something up in the viewer’s heart. There’s no black or white. None of the characters are genuinely good people – nor Ivo, nor the family members and not even the dying patients. This makes it hard to feel compassion towards any of them. “Ivo” touches upon two difficult, but also very important subjects. One being the art of dealing with one’s emotions and the other being the right to live or to die.
Alicja Magdziak
Eva Trobisch’s “Ivo” is one out of the 8 films in the category Focus: Storytelling. It’s a competition of mid- and full-length feature productions with a clearly original creative approach, looking for original forms of narration. Both young and experienced filmmakers will compete for the prize.