Name: Forever
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2007-09-12
Duration: 1 h 35 min
Rating: 7.7
Cast: Yoshino Kimura, Bertrand Beyern, Camille Solari

Forever (2006), directed by Heddy Honigmann, is an unusual documentary about the famous Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. The cemetery contains the graves of many famous artists (Ingres), singers (Piaf, Callas), and writers (Proust). Most notably for U.S. tourists, Jim Morrison is buried in Lachaise. (Someone asks how to find Morrison's grave. The answer is, "Follow the signs." Morrison fans have written "To Jim" with arrows on other tombs to guide people to the grave site.)

Honigmann does much more than guide us through the cemetery. She interviews people who are visiting. Some have come to pay homage to the famous artists. Most, however, are visiting the graves of loved ones. Honigmann speaks to them in a friendly, non-invasive way, and they respond in kind. She's not afraid to let the camera linger while people think and consider. Often, after a while, they share their thoughts with her and with us.

The director takes a surprising and interesting detour during the film. A young Japanese pianist--Yoshino Kimura--visits Fredric Chopin's grave at Lachaise. Honigmann takes us to Kimura's studio, where Kimura plays a lovely Chopin piece. Although physically apart from the cemetery, this scene works because the calmness of the artist and the beauty of the music remind us of the calmness and beauty of Chopin's grave and of the Lachaise itself.

We saw this film at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre. I think it would work well on DVD. It's probably hard to find, but it's worth seeking out.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Forever is a film about the power and vitality of art and a place where love and death go hand in hand and beauty lives on: the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

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Forever

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