Aus der Zeit

Under the pretext of filming a megalopolis, Berlin, Symphony of a Big City extolled the hectic rhythm of machines, the accelerating circulation of goods and messages, the automated world of the future. Almost eighty years on, Aus der Zeit takes a look at Vienna from the opposite angle, filming a few days in the life of four old-fashioned artisan shop-keepers: a fine-weather goods dealer, a drugstore owner, a haberdasher and a butcher. These days are special, as for two of them their businesses are about to close. The exercise is not a formal one: in the distance separating the modern world heralded in by Ruttman’s Berlin and the suspended time typical of the old shops in Harald Friedl’s film, we are able to measure what has been lost, what Ruttman’s film had already abolished, starting with human beings–who return to occupy the centre of the frame–and their role in history. (Yann Lardeau)