the encounter between two solitudes and two exiles in a delicate film by Bas Devos

This contemplative film, unfolding at a very slow pace, invites us to observe the margins and nature.

The 41-year-old Belgian director Bas Devos confirms his talent for finding the poetry of the world in the most banal settings of everyday life. Here, fourth feature film, selected at the Berlinale in the Encounters section, will be released in theaters on July 10, 2024.

Stefan (Stefan Gotais) is a construction worker. It’s his last day of work before four weeks of summer vacation. He’s working on the construction of a gigantic building, in a neighborhood that’s currently under construction. Stefan is getting ready to go back to Romania to see his family, especially his mother. He empties his fridge before leaving, makes a soup with what he finds in it, and gives it to his friends and his sister.

Shuxiu (Liyo Gong), a young Chinese woman, spends her days with her eye glued to her microscope. What she observes looks like landscapes seen from the sky. Sometimes, she visits her aunt, who runs a small restaurant. There she meets Stefan, where the two young people exchange a few words.

The young man pays a last visit to his sister, who works nights. “Talk to me, I just want to hear your voice”he said to his sister before falling asleep. “I may not come back right away”the young man confides to his sister. Later, in the forest, while he is going to get his car to take the road to Romania, he meets Shuxiu in the forest.

Shot in 4:3 format, Bas Devos’ film takes us into the daily life of a young exiled worker. The young man seems to wander aimlessly during the few days before his departure for Romania, but just before setting off, he meets Shuxiu in the forest. Here, there is no action, no drama, except for the movement that will lead to the meeting between two people isolated by exile, who have in common the fact that they look at what others do not notice.

The director focuses his gaze on the invisible, those who get up early, those who work at night, most of them uprooted. He invites us to also observe the environment, the vacant spaces in urban landscapes, these wild in-betweens, in which the heart of the city seems to beat, which we always hear or see, even in the deepest undergrowth.

Most often filmed in fixed shots composed like living paintings, stopping on a light, the quivering of plants, the buzzing of insects, the camera lingers, capturing the sounds of nature as well as those of the city, omnipresent, following the rhythm of this long wandering until the encounter, which marks the end of the film and the beginning of the story, left to the imagination of the spectator.

“Moss grows everywhere and no one cares about it”Shuxiu tells Stefan. This very contemplative film opens a window on invisible worlds, inviting us to observe more closely the beauty of the world, that which is right before our eyes, or at our feet like the mosses, and which we often do not take the trouble to look at, and which can lead on new paths.

Gender : Drama
Director: Low Devos
Actors: Stefan Gota, Liyo Gong, Teodor Corban
Country : Belgium
Duration : 01h22
Exit : July 10 2024
Distributer : JHR Films
Synopsis : Stefan, a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels, is about to go home. He prepares a large pot of soup with leftovers from his refrigerator to distribute as a farewell gift to his friends and family. As he prepares to leave, he meets a young Belgian-Chinese woman who is doing a PhD on mosses. Her attention to the invisible stops him in his tracks.