CH.FILM

Recycling Lily Switzerland 2013 – 95min.

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Recycling Lily

Valérie Lobsiger
Movie Rating: Valérie Lobsiger

A picky domestic waste inspector falls in love with a hoarder.

In a Swiss German village where the hedges are neatly trimmed and garden gnomes abound, garbage (in official pink bags) is collected every morning between 6 and 7. Domestic waste inspector Hansjörg Stähli is obsessed by rules (because of his overbearing mother, whom he still lives with?), which are made to be followed and not joked about. The locals would all cultivate their gardens in peace, if it weren’t for a mysterious delinquent who regularly tosses garbage anywhere they please. The inspector discovers that this “garbage terrorist” is none other than Emma, the daughter of Lily, that waitress he’s in love with. What Hansjörg doesn’t know is that Lily is a hoarder and Emma is suffocating at home from all the things her mother collects...

In his first feature, the multi-award-winning publicist from Lausanne, Pierre Monnard, known for his short films and TV spots, makes fun of a stereotypical Switzerland obsessed by order, rules and cleanliness. In bright 60’s colors, he paints a country in which radical intolerance reigns (and where any violation is considered a crazed crime). Its residents include a psychologically rigid politician who is prepared to sanction an innocent man (from French-speaking Switzerland!) and a sadistic property manager who constantly spies on his fellow citizens. All this exaggeration is suffocating, and the love story doesn’t help. Meant to offer a balance, it instead wanders off in the same direction.

31.05.2021

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