Erna Kosgalwis's Third Life1979

Country of Origin: Germany

Description: 16mm Film - Erna Kosgalwis's Third Life - BRD 1979 Script and Direction: Raimund Koplin Camera: Klaus Lautenbacher Cast: Erna Kosgalwis, Lore Prinzing, Frau Michel, and others. A simple woman who has worked hard all her life reaches retirement age. The transition to a period of rest means loneliness and uncertainty for her; she feels superfluous. Meeting other older people at a city-run 'senior citizens' club' and taking on a new role bring about a turning point in her life. Erna Kosgalwis from Ulm-Grimmelfingen has reached retirement age. Coming from a working-class family in Tilsit, East Prussia, she has spent her life in duty and sacrifice. The already narrow framework of her outlook on life is exacerbated by an alcoholic husband, the events of war, displacement, and material hardship. Despite these events, she has managed her life well so far. But now, shortly before being released from her duties, after raising her only child and with her pension making work unnecessary, she is completely unprepared for no longer having to care for anyone or anything, for being left to her own devices. The early social hardship and the resulting exclusion from more demanding intellectual activity are now taking their toll: Mrs. Kosgalwis no longer knows what to do with herself and her life; she feels superfluous. Above all, she lacks the awareness of her right to rest and enjoy leisure. Her time passes in monotonous, dreary brooding, during which she constantly asks herself the anxious question: What am I still doing in this world? She can only fulfill her secretly longed-for role as a grandmother to a limited extent; the difference between her outlook on life and the reality of today's feelings, thoughts, and actions is too great...

Online Copy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cocR0IOYUNA

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