Consolation Service

A Finnish couple announce their decision to divorce. It is early spring in Helsinki. Narrated in a voice-over by a neighbour, the work presents three dramatic moments in this process: It begins with a session with their therapist, followed by the couple celebrating a birthday with their friends that ends with the whole group drowning in a frozen lake. The camera angle and perspective change to parallel the shift of the narrative. An underwater monologue contemplates the past and death. The film concludes in a final relinquishing of the relationship. The narrative combines documentary realism and cinematic invention and is fragmented, thus inviting us to see beyond the illusion of fiction.