Schwarz Weiss Bunt

This weekend marks her last in these familiar environments, as she’s moving to study in another city. She feels a poignancy in activities she’s done a thousand times before. She helps her father work on a motorcycle and asks him about life. Her easy way with the tools, mirroring his actions and knowledge, tell better than words how he’s taught her of zen via the art of motorcycle maintenance. The fortunes of her youth are still with her in these joyful moments among so many lovely people. Dinner is spent with the family of another student Aurora (Elisabeth Kanettis). The next day she’s swimming with friends, and that night she attends a concert. 

“The carefree joy of the moment is infectious…”

There’s nothing earth-shattering in the narrative, no third-act twist. It’s a weekend we have all lived. The carefree joy of the moment is infectious and may remind the viewer of a time when they were seemingly immortal. Now, gravitas slips through the cracks when Matilda considers the future, and what meaning it will all have going forward. The film calls back to the meditations presented by My Dinner With Andre or Before Sunrise (also set in Vienna), and right of passage stories like Dazed and Confused. In that regard, Schwarz Weiss Bunt presses pause for Matilda and allows her, and us, a moment to reflect. Moser captures spontaneous vérité in the dialog, and the vistas in and around Vienna are beautiful. 

Schwarz Weiss Bunt shows us this perfect moment for Matilda as she hesitates to wade across the river from childhood into adulthood. At the last, she stands at sunrise looking down over Vienna as golden sunlight creeps across a green field. The city appears flawless, as does life. Every choice is a good one. Every outcome is a success. Every path not taken is ideal. The Postal Service captured this bittersweet ennui in their song Such Great Heights: “They will see us waving from such great heights / Come down now they’ll say / But everything looks perfect from far away…”