Impressions

Impressions tells a story of a slow death, fear of abandonment, emotional estrangement and the contempt some feel for their parents, yet it aspires to be a feel good film. Yes, it’s about daddy issues. And no, you can’t call them that.

“When one has not had a good father, one must create one.” - Nietzsche
Liv is an insecure perfectionist in her early thirties and she really wants to have her life together. She has put to rest her dreams to become an artist, she’s found her man - a trustworthy, easy going IT guy, she’s trying hard to have adult hobbies and adult aspirations. Maybe even a baby. However when her estranged alcoholic father ends up in a hospital unconscious, suddenly she has to deal with her own inner child.

Liv is a videographer who shoots weddings, christenings and such. Her father used to be a nude photographer, and that has left her with an understanding of images and a hatred towards her own body. Her boyfriend Marcis seems to be the opposite of her reckless father. Marcis has a daughter of his own, unfortunately Patricia lives in Germany with her mom and her new dad.

Shortly before the 8 year old Patricia comes to visit, Liv learns that her estranged father is in a hospital - in a rather hopeless condition. She believes not to care, but as she wanders through chaotic and ruthless post-soviet hospital corridors, running after overwhelmed doctors and tired nurses, she feels more and more lost. Memories, fantasies and her rather melodramatic mother haunt her. Liv starts to form an unlikely connection with her comatose father. Marcis at the same time develops no less surprising friendship with a 17 year old metalhead. The couple has to choose - to grow up or to grow apart.

Director's note:
In Latvia absent fathers, mostly because of alcohol addiction related issues, for a few last generations are painfully common. A few of my friends have already lost their estranged fathers before reconciliation and I've seen the trauma not only caused by the death of a father, but of a very specific death - a death of a father you've never had. These women have grown up with a legally or factually single mother and an unreliable, rarely seen and often intoxicated father figure. This has had a huge impact on how they form their adult relationships and how they define their own self-worth. Impressions will not be a social drama, I believe that these issues can be looked at with lightness and humour, yet it poses a difficult question – can one ever find fatherly love and acceptance within oneself instead of looking for it in other people.