Zajedno

What is it that keeps people together? "Somebody gets on my nerves and I still love them," says Ratka about her lesbian partner Milka. "When I saw that she could clean around the house and iron clothes, I said, that's it!" is Vlado's disarming disclosure about his wife Marija, who, like himself, is mentally handicapped. "I don't know what he sees in me, I'm not a beauty," admits Branka when asked about Kreso's love for her. Director Nenad Puhovski tries to get to the heart of love and desire through five very different stories about people who are, were, or want to be in a relationship. The result is touching and funny, sometimes producing astonishing outpourings of emotion -- and it shows that a relationship is not a guaranteed remedy for loneliness. Hrvoje's tale is both harrowing and hopeful. Bound to his wheelchair, he is unembarrassed about viewing the website of his favorite prostitute. But what he really wants is a child, "because I'm emotional." The interviewees' responses, recollections, and observations about their relationships combine to form an impressive study of that indefinable and often so very illogical longing to be together, in spite of everything. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)