WWSFF 2009: The Way It Used To Be – An Afterlife Dilemma

A death in the family gave birth to the idea for ‘The Way It Used To Be’, Sarah Lazarovic’s new short film about our perceptions of heaven and how our actions during our time above ground can lead to some tough choices in the so-called ‘paradise’ of eternity.

The film begins with an elderly woman arriving in heaven.  Before she can become acclimatized to her new digs, which are surprisingly plain considering most lofty depictions of life beyond the pearly gates, she’s confronted with her first husband, a young soldier who died in the war.  It was a brief, passionate affair, and nothing like the more mundane and lengthy partnership she shared with her second husband, who also shows up to vie for her attention.  Before long it becomes clear that she must choose between the two men in her life, and it’s a decision that will reverberate eternally.

“It didn’t even cross my mind until my grandma was dying and I was like ‘gee what happens if there’s a heaven?’  I was trying to bring some levity to the situation, my grandmother was passing away and I said, ‘well at least when she gets to heaven she’ll have both of her husbands waiting on her,’ and I mentioned that joke to my friend Bob Mackowycz, who is a screen writer, and he said, ‘Do you mind if I try to write a short film about that?’ ”

“The short is not about my grandmother…it’s just the idea and he sort of ran with it and turned it into this broader thing about a woman that wakes up in heaven and has her young soldier husband and her 80-year-old husband who she lived with for 50 years, both sort of duking it out to spend eternity with her.”

Lazarovic admits that she was forced to question her own ideas concerning the afterlife during the making of the film.

“Would you actually want to be reunited with these people?  Do you just put a hazy wash over things in retrospect, like once someone passes away they were the greatest person on earth, but if you were confronted with their eternal personage in heaven would you actually want to spend it with them?”

The film has a somewhat comical, twist-ending, but Lazarovic doesn’t think it takes away from some of the deeper issues in question.

“It’s definitely not a completely superfluous comedy it’s more of a black comedy so there is some sort of deeper and darker feeling to it…It’s about examining the relationships you had in your life.”

michaelt@citytv.com

The CFC WorldWide Short Film Festival runs from June 16-21.  To purchase tickets or learn more about the fest, click here.

More art from Sarah Lazarovic:

In Photos: Older, A Luminato Box Installation

100 Paintings In 100 Days: One Toronto Artist’s Ambitious Project

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