The Ground Beneath Our Feet

This film by Yrsa Roca Fannberg, known as a friend of the analogue film, follows with great warmth the everyday life of residents of a nursing home in Reykjavik, where the inevitable end of life is always present. 

One of the important questions the film contemplates is how we say goodbye to this life.  “I don’t want to die, but I am prepared for it”, says one resident. The director herself has worked at Grund, one of the oldest nursing homes in Iceland, and the film captures the close relationship between her and the residents. One of the central themes is the love between couples as well as friends in a context where one may not even remember who they are hugging.

Life is portrayed in all its fragility in the unhurried everyday moments of the nursing home, the last for many of its residents. Documenting it all on a 16-millimeter film is a testament to these moments. 

While society pushes the elderly into facilities and away from sight, Fannberg’s movie lifts them to center stage with all their joys and sorrows. As the end nears, there is still humour and laughter. A funeral car pulls up in the driveway every now and then, yet this film is first and foremost about life.

Marko Ylitalo (translated by Mira Sairanen)

Director Yrsa Roca Fannberg will attend the film screenings on 5 Feb and 6 Feb.