2007 La Vraie Vie est Ailleurs

Swiss FilmLa vraie vie est ailleurs (original title) "Real life is elsewhere", a film directed by the Swiss Director Frederic Choffat2007, 84 min, Dolby SR, French

Geneva train station. A woman leaves for Marseilles to give a conference. A man is on his way to Berlin to discover his new born child. A young woman is off to live in Naples. When one person invites itself to take a seat next to someone else, a new reality can start off. Three people meeting, three life stories which switch on the platform of a railway station.

Geneva railway station, late afternoon. A woman queues up to buy her ticket for Marseilles. Behind her, a breathless hirsute man carrying a camera bag on his back is asking for a ticket to Berlin, immediate departure. Down on platform two, a good looking woman accompanied by two overexcited friends gets ready for her departure to Naples, one way .

Geneva-NaplesA woman. She is Italian, second generation, living in Switzerland since she was born. Filled with enthusiasm and volunteer, she decides to go and live where she thinks her real roots are, the south of Italy. The guard of the sleeping compartment, a north Italian guy, worried to leave the woman on her own during the whole trip, decides to install his headquarter in her compartment. He will question her on her choices, upset her. She will persist, persuaded that her place is in Naples even if the man’s arguments, dreaming of a life in Switzerland, will oblige her to confront what iswaiting for her in this fabulous south of hers. It’s a questioning about identity, about roots, and about the position of the second generation in Switzerland.

Geneva- BerlinA man. He learns that his German girlfriend gave birth two weeks too early. Surprised by the news, he finishes his work and jumps in a train direction Berlin without noticing that this train stops in Dortmund and that the next correspondence is not before 6 o’clock in the morning. In the middle of the night in the empty and desolate station, a Czech woman leaving for Romania is also waiting. She is beautiful and radiates an irresistible air of liberty. Together they will spend the night on the run, a night of discovery and desire. He’s a man looking for his own freedom hesitating between the craziness of a bohemian way of life and the beauty of being a father.

Geneva- MarseillesA woman is sitting in the TGV, preparing a conference, which she’s going to give in Marseilles. She’s a scientist, a brain. The man opposite, has neither a ticket nor any money. He says he lost it all the night before-this awful night. The woman will help him out by paying for his ticket, she will offer him a ride to the hotel, and will eventually share her room with him, because there is no place anywhere else left. In this small room, the woman breaks down, lost between her professionalism and her lack of relationship.It is the inquiry of a woman for whom the career has always counted more than the rest and who suddenly realizes in front of that stranger the huge gap existing in her sentimental life.

* [http://www.lavraievie.lefilm.ch Official website]