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Some of the many intertwined themes that create its story

Needless to say that this pandemic’s penetrating power play, pushing its pre-mandated stripped down silhouette of social entities into our very capillaries almost in the same way as the Spanish Flu did a hundred years ago, composes a seductive topic of conversation everywhere and even though social interaction at Les Pierres before was already purposefully limited, organized and pre-timed, we obviously perceive its impact too. It’s fascinating to observe how our partial shut down literally gives rise to change by encouraging us to take a more frequent and closer look at other alivenesses that surround us.

Given his reprehensible misconduct it might be morally questionable to still watch Kevin Spacey movies and to advertise doing so publicly can be conceived as even less ‘comme il faut’, but American Beauty is my all time favorite nonetheless, for several reasons but mostly because of the intelligent and intuitive way in which the makers attract us to do just that, to look closer, therewith hinting at some of the many intertwined themes that create its story.

Noticing the sign on Lester Burnham’s desk from only the corner of my eye somehow triggered hope in me in a very similar way as those same words did, scratched in the elevator door going up my to mother’s ward in the nursing home. They touched me fiercely, as did the suggestion of despair with which the scraper must have been handled to get this sore message out. How tough can life be when the most imposing call to action in troubled times is to soberly take a closer look?

I must have returned to the cinema at least ten times to immerse myself in this American Beauty, obviously bought the DVD immediately when it became available and I still regularly watch scenes from it on the internet. Taking a closer look definitely benefits from repetition, not to let the awareness slowly wear out, but to in contrast fan the flames of recurrent surprise.

Even though the cinemas here have opened up again and we could easily expand our view beyond our immediate surrounding area, I for now choose, like a faltering needle of a gramophone, to be overwhelmed again and again by this duplicate image of unspoiled seduction.

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