Details

Claudia Euen | Germany | 2017 | 1:01:46

German with English Subtitles

65 years of marriage, four social orders, two people and one love: Ilse and Wolfgang Gutsche have been living happily together all their life. And they would do it all the same again.

For as long as I can remember, my grandparents have been in love. When they visited us, they would hold hands, kiss and always stay close to each other. When I grew up I had to realise this wasn’t necessarily true for all couples.

The film documents their everyday life, allows us to listen to their conversations and thoughts and shows their happiness which started in difficult times. Ilse and Wolfgang Gutsche are children of war. They belong to the last witnesses of one of the worst tragedies in human history. My youth, in contrast, was lighthearted, the GDR belonged to the past, a feeling of weightlessness. However, I had no luck with love. When my boyfriend and I separated, I wondered how my grandparents did it. What is it that keeps their love going? What are they doing differently than others?

“In The Shade Of The Apple Tree” is both a love story and a document of the times. It reflects the lives and values of two generations and tells us the story of two people connected by an invisible thread. Poetic images tell of something that even for them is hard to grasp.

Producer
Claudia Euen