20 Euros for two weeks. This is what two women, mother and daughter, have to make do with in Eva Mulvad's black family portrait from Portugal's costa del sol. But things haven"t always been like that. The Danish family used to be wealthy and passed down a fortune across several generations - a fortune that has now been used up. The adult daughter Anne Mette grew up believing that money grows on trees and that it was only a matter of going to the bank when she was out of them. But suddenly the bank account also has no more funds available, and for the first time in her life she has to overcome the taboo of finding herself a job. A period of (self-)reproach begins, and tragedy is lurking behind the comedy that "The Good Life" also is. The golden days of the past are over, and all that is left are the family's two last aristocrats, who are as out of touch with reality as you can make it. "The Good Life" sends an affectionate nod to the American Maysles brothers and the documentary classic "Grey Gardens". And yet, Mulvad's film is in a league of its own with its deeply personal and grim tale, which reveals the director's sharp eye for the characters of reality - two women, who with their paradoxical, unsympathetic charm could not have been invented any better had one tried. "The Good Life" is nominated for the Doc Alliance Award 2011.

• Credits
• Contact