RODICAS
Synopsis
Rodica is the first name of each of the two protagonists in Alice Gruia’s film. Rodica Grill is 86 years old and the two years older Rodica Gruia is her best friend and Alice’s grandmother. Both of them have Romanian-Jewish roots and have been living for 30 and 20 years respectively in Sydney, Australia, where they met.RODICA GRILL is the more childish of the two, with the biggest mouth. She was always looking for a free country which she found neither in Romania nor in Uruguay. Rodica is by nature a fighter. She is still working as an interpreter in Sydney’s hospitals. She loves gin tonic and dancing. She can philosophise for hours about God and the World, however not with her best friend.
RODICA GRUIA is the practical one, she does not speak about certain things. Certainly not about death. Rodica is a real lady. She lives in her perfect world, through which she moves quickly in perfectly colourmatched clothes. She first emigrated to Germany and then together with her sons she moved to Australia. Even her best friend untill today does not know why. Rodica trains every day in a fitness studio, babysits her grandsons and loves Obama.
When the RODICAS are together they are like teenagers: They patter without a break, go shopping, to concerts and try out new cafés. They are sarcastic and strong-willed. They say, they are like sisters. At the same time they behave like an old married couple, that against all odds has learned how to function together.
Alice Gruia shows what one does not notice at first sight: Their turbulent and dramatic pasts have definately left their imprint on them. It is striking how their methods of dealing with present problems and past traumas are diametrically opposed. Both methods seem to work however.
A film about the lust for life, the power and the humour of two women, who could not be more extraordinary and yet ordinary, different and yet so similar at the same time.
Festivals/Awards
Berlinale PERSPECTIVEKrakau Film Festival
SICILYAMBIENTE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
FÜNF SEEN FILM FESTIVAL
ISCHIA FILM FESTIVAL
Cast and Crew
- Director Stefan Urlaß
- Director of Photography Sanne Kurz, Luca Chiari, Alice Gruia, Tom Wright
- Editor Heike Parplies
- Sound Warren Read, Luca Chiari, Nicla Comparin, Arnold Luichareonkit
- Score Jan Partke