"Ein Leben Lang" was my first collaboration with director Till Endemann. The film explores the difficult dynamics in the relationship between Elsa and her (separated) husband Arthur, a former pop star struggling with dementia. While Elsa, who still feels responsible for Arthur even though he left her for a much younger woman, is trying to renovate their holiday home, which she wants to sell, she meets Sorin, a 45-year-old DJ who earns his money doing odd jobs in the village. At first Elsa is suspicious of the man helping her with the renovations, but they grow closer and all three begin to reckon with feelings they thought they had left behind in the past.
The score for this film is very intimate, consisting largely of piano and string trio. Very few but deliberate notes that leave room for the feelings and tensions on the screen. I enjoyed the work very much and it was a sound that came very naturally to me. I distinctly remember Till telling me about some tracks and artists that he thought would work well in the film, all of whom I owned records of and some of whom were among my favourites.
I think the chemistry worked and I was very excited to be nominated for Best Music at the German Television Awards.