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FROM ONE DAY TO THE NEXT
a documentary by Frank Matter, 95 min., Switzerland 2013
An aging population, the need to cut costs in healthcare, the fragmentation of social relations: These are much discussed topics. But how do these trends affect the lives of elderly people? What does it mean to get old in these hectic and individualistic times? «From One Day To The Next» tells the touching story of four elderly people who, with humanity and wit, are fighting for dignity, autonomy and a piece of happiness while confronting the slow mental and physical decline of old age.
More and more people live in their own homes until old age. At home, they feel comfortable and certainly more independent than in an institution. They can decide for themselves how to spend their days, and they live in familiar surroundings, with all the souvenirs and keepsakes that remind them of their past. They move to a nursing home only when there's no other way left.
«From One Day To The Next» follows four elderly people through their everyday lives, observing how they cope with a gradual loss of autonomy. Ninety-four year old Elisabeth Willen often feels lonely. Nonetheless, she can't fathom selling her beautiful house and moving to the town's nursing home. Yet that's exactly what her relatives, the visiting nurses and her doctor think she should do - for her own good. But Elisabeth Willen is resisting their pressure as long as she can.
Monique Hofmann dreams of meeting her favorite singer Rudy Giovannini one more time in person. Even as her failing health seems to make this increasingly impossible she doesn't give up hope that her dream will come true.
For Silvan Jeker and Anny Fröhlich it's difficult to accept that they are becoming dependent on help from other people. To defend their autonomy they put up active and passive resistance against the people and institutions who are trying to help them.
Often, family members are busy with their own hectic and complicated lives, and are overwhelmed by the needs and demands of their elderly relatives. That's why, for many old people, the employees of the Visiting Nurses Service are the most important, or at least the most constant contact to the outside world. The nurses stop by every day to attend to the basic medical needs of their clients and to help them with washing, cleaning and dressing. But while the elderly are dependent on these services in an existential way, it's «only» a job for the nurses themselves and, as healthcare workers, they have to be careful not to burnout. And it's not always easy for the nurses to reconcile their own human feelings of compassion with the professional, economic and bureaucratic demands of their work.
«From One Day To The Next» tells a story of everyday rituals, of little quarrels and big fights, of helplessness and melancholy and of all the fond memories that make every life a unique journey. Some of the film's scenes are reminiscent of Samuel Beckett's stage plays. Again and again, the elderly protagonists make the audience laugh with their sharp wit and their laconic humor. But sometimes that laughter gets stuck in our throats.
On a more philosophical and existential level, «From One Day To The Next» explores themes like autonomy, respect and responsibility: What is the meaning of freedom? Do we have to respect the autonomy of another person even if we know that person can no longer decide what's in his (or her) own best interest? What does it mean to live in a society where more and more human interactions become paid services? What narratives do we employ to make the inevitable seem acceptable and the unbearable bearable?
The documentary was shot in the towns of Allschwil and Schönenbuch (BL), in collaboration with the local Visiting Nurse Service.
 
With
  • Anny Fröhlich, Monique Hofmann, Silvan Jeker, Elisabeth Willen
  • Marino Klingenberg, Rosmarie Hofer, Miri Fairchild, Felicitas Brun,
    Isabel Gubser, Jeanette Hänggi, Adela Musić
  • Andreas Honegger, Claudia Lanz, Marija Jakić, Carina Sufryn,
    Radmila Stojanov-Iliev,Annick Tanner, Marlis In-Albon, Imelda Coray Kessler,
    Joanna Bar, Marie Wyss, Maja Geitlinger, Corinne Zumsteg, Vreni Stohler,
    Jessica Versel, Claudia Gisske, Michèle Zandonà
  • Anna Oser, Anna Lörracher, Helene Tschachtli
  • Edith Fisch, Luzie Hediger
  • Doris und Bruno Erzer-Fröhlich, Hans-Peter Farner, Hanni Thür-Weisshaupt,
    Gertrud Grossen, Walter Willen, Franz Thür-Weisshaupt
  • Silea Wintsch, Danielle Thürkauf, Litrim Kukaj, Bruno Schweizer
  • Rudy Giovannini
Stab
  • Writer,director & producer:
    Frank Matter, soap factory GmbH
    Based on a concept by Peter Aschwanden
  • Coproducers
    Schweizer Fernsehen SRF & SRG SSR
  • Director of Photography:
    Steff Bossert
  • Sound:
    Olivier JeanRichard
  • Additional Camera:
    Daniel Leippert, Benedikt Ritter,
    Nicola Bellucci, Tom Bernhard
  • Additional Sound:
    Pascal Kreis, Hans Dahler
  • Aufnahmeleitung:
    Franziska Trefzer
  • Production Assistant:
    Loredana-Nastassja Fernández
  • Editor:
    Anja Bombelli
  • Assistant Editor:
    Andreas Arnheiter
  • Composer:
    Victor Moser
  • Stills Photographer:
    Dominik Labhardt
  • Sound Editing:
    Pedro Haldemann
    himex:sounddesign, Solothurn
  • Mixer:
    Peter von Siebenthal
    Complex-Projektstudio, Bern
  • Color Grading:
    Steff Bossert
    Ueli Müller, RecTv
  • Credits:
    Zoé Bucher
  • Person in charge Pacte and Coproductions SRF:
    Urs Augstburger
  • Equipment:
    point de vue, Basel
  • Project Accountant:
    Marcel Pfeiffer
  • Subtitle Spotting:
    Nicola Bellucci
Project development with the support of
  • Schweizerische Autorengesellschaft (SSA)
Produced with the support of
  • Bundesamt für Kultur, EDI, Schweiz
  • Fachausschuss Audiovision und Multimedia der Kantone Basel-Stadt und Basel-Landschaft
  • Kulturfonds SUISSIMAGE
  • Ernst Göhner Stiftung
  • Hans Vontobel Stiftung zur Förderung des Gemeinwohls
  • Jubiläumsstiftung der Basellandschaftlichen Kantonalbank
  • Kulturförderung/Lotteriefonds des Kantons Solothurn
  • Succès passage antenne
  • Succes Cinema
  • Schweizerisches Rotes Kreuz
  • Amavita Apotheke Paradies, Allschwil
  • Bürgergemeinde Allschwil
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirchgemeinde Allschwil-Sch¨nenbuch
  • Röm. Kath. Frauenverein St. Peter und Paul Allschwil
  • Christkatholischer Frauenverein Allschwil
  • Frauenverein St. Theresia Allschwil