Det gode liv

“In my case, work is a taboo subject,” says 57-year-old Annemette Beckmann straight into the camera, a woman who was brought up like a princess, revelling in luxury in opulent surroundings, and never had to do a day’s work. Now she lives with her mother in a small flat in the Portuguese town of Cascais. There are only 20 Euros left of the mother’s pension to last them for the next two weeks, they are up to their eyes in debt and, when they can’t pay the dentist, they give him an old painting instead. Annemette’s father went bankrupt and the former Danish millionaires now have absolutely nothing. Award-winning documentarist Eva Mulvad closely follows their desperate situation and, via old family video shots, she also recalls the wealth both women had at their disposal in the past. This compelling portrait of the complex coexistence of a mother and daughter who fell from the heights of luxury to the very depths, eloquently shows the unpredictable way in which life trifles with people’s destinies. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)