Home Is Not Home Excerpt (2010)

Excerpt for the documentary Home Is Not Home.

The four protagonists of Julia Laggner's documentary live in an Austrian lodging house for senior citizens. Each of them has a different take on life. Some cannot come to terms with the fact that they have had to leave their own home, and they still see the lodging house as a temporary arrangement, although they sense it is their "last port of call". They also had different reasons for moving. One of the women left her apartment at the request of her family, and she eventually discovered that they had cast her off as an inconvenient "burden". The days pass slowly in the lodging house. Everyday life is filled with parlour games and parties, which mask an underlying emptiness. Some, whose minds were in good health just a few weeks before, gradually lose their memories and their thoughts. At the same time, some residents are almost 100 years old, and their memories stretch far back into the past to a time when they were just making their way in life and were full of strength. A former circus juggler and singer, however, thinks he has enjoyed the best years of his life in the lodging house. At a local church, he met a woman whom he has fallen in love with and who visits him regularly. This film shows that old age can be just as enigmatic as youth, and that it may never be too late for anything.