Films at Visions du Réel are not only screened in Nyon, but they are also being shown at the Théâtre de Grand Champ in Gland. Shuttle buses have been arranged between Nyon and Gland and are timed to arrive for the start and end of screenings in Gland.
Yesterday, Sunday 14th April there was a completely packed house in Gland for the screening of the superb film “Ladies”, directed by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, this is a film with a local connection featuring divorced, widowed or single ladies living in Vaud who felt that they’ve become transparent since they no longer have men in their lives.
The ladies in the film question came on stage to the delight of both the audience and the filmmakers.
These ladies had opened their hearts out to the camera, there were many touching, sad, funny and poignant moments, from the lady who tried internet dating, to the woman who tried to conquer her fears since her divorce by taking the cable car up to Glacier 3000. This was an extraordinary scene, the brave woman tried to contain her fright as she peeked through the window of the cable car and saw the sheer drop below, but eventually, she broke down in tears.
The moment when one very elegant lady started clearing out the study of her late husband and came across an old dictaphone that he had once used. He had recorded his own spoken directions to a destination in the days before sat-nav. “He was very precise” she reminisced. The bombshell of the moment when one lady revealed that both her brothers had committed suicide, and even though all her family were doctors she was not encouraged to do the same simply because she was a woman. She went on to become a physiotherapist and is now also a brilliant photographer and seems to have accepted her lot and is happy with life. The lady who tried internet dating found love and a new found zest for life. She was a filmmaker’s dream, funny, witty and brilliant on camera, the audience were all rooting for a happy ending for her.
The ladies were filmed over a year through their trials and tribulations and on the whole, the film ended on an upbeat note, the audience gave the film a rapturous applause to these women of a certain age who are rarely represented on film.
The next two screenings of the film are now sold out completely at this festival, but such is its success it is bound to appear again on Swiss TV or in local cinema screens.