2009/08/03 New York
Import
Export
Last night I saw the movie “Import Export” – the most impressive movie I have seen in months. I admire “The Hurt Locker” and I urge everybody to see it but “Import Export” is probably a better movie.
The movie is about a nurse from Ukraine who travels to Austria to work as a cleaning lady. The hospital in Ukraine could pay her only thirty percent of her salary. After a brief stint for an internet-sex business she decides to leave her country.
And the movie is about an Austrian drifter and his father traveling to Ukraine to deliver jukeboxes and chewing gum machines to shady businessmen in godforsaken cities and villages.
Manohla Dargis compared “Import Export” to “Waiting for Godot” but I thought of Lars von Trier, though “Import Export” is a far more interesting movie than Lars von Trier’s “Dogville” -- for one because Ulrich Seidl, the Austrian director of “Import Export” appears to have an intimate knowledge of the reality of his characters.
Mr. Seidl doesn’t force morality upon us; he is more interested in survival techniques and the lack of those techniques.
I was very much reminded of my trip to Ukraine in December 2008.
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38 comments 
import, export
ArnonThank you. I look for it on dvd. The film had his release here (Belgium) more than a year ago.
And a question:
what to do when people come at your door to ask for the table they gave you (not as a loan) seven years ago?
Vera
When people come to your door for a table always give them a table or money to go to the nearest IKEA store. This is what we call: decency.Arnon
I don't have the money, I only have one table.
I don't have the money, I only have one table.
Vera
I hate to tell you this but you don’t need a table.You should take a look at this matter from the point of view of Buddha. There are people out there who need your table more than you do.Don’t be selfish. Give them your table.It will help your karma.You can use the floor as a table. You have a floor, I assume?Arnon
You know these people? They used the same arguments.Vera M
Read Elizabeth Bishop's poem 'One Art' on the art of losing. Although I suspect that in your case, when you let this table go, perhaps one will come flying your way sooner than you think.Furniture in general is overrated. Except for beds on which you can do most of the things you could do on a sofa or at a table.
The description reminds me of "Blue Moon", another Austrian film. There's something about godforsaken (Ukrainian) cities. 'Survival' does seem to be the key word.
Ann..
I'm going to Kiiv in 7, then in Odessa. The only thing I can now associate with Odessa is the huge stone stairs from Eisenstein's movie.As for Import-Export, I started downloading this film,then my friend said it was something a bit boring and removed transfer :) I didn't ask why. I still think that this films is a little bit boring.. maybe.
losing
@ MINice poem.
What do you mean?
Vera
I mean you should avoid pseudo-Buddhism. I awknowledge the attachment we can have to 'things', a table, a picture, an arm, your left eye. Otherwise, where does it end, this indifference? Can you explain what attachment you have for this particular table? Just because 'the author' thinks you should give it up, doesn't mean you have to.Anna
Don't trust your boyfriend.Juliane
Thank you. No furniture is key. That's the main philosophy of our relationship.losing
@JulianeIt is not about furniture. You don't need a bed either.
@MI
I have no attachment to this table. It is just the table we (my children and me) use everyday.
Arnon
Do you perceive women who are prostitutes to be as interchangeable and replaceable as for example say, Vera's table? Not meant disrespectfully, more out of curiousity.Vera
Why do they want it back after so long? Has the recession hit them that badly?MI
It is a silly story.They want to give it back to a member of the family who wants it back because he has the chairs that go along with it.
Buddhism
I don't trust Buddhism. If you followm it to the extreme, i.e. detach yourself from everything there is, you start to live like a drugged psychiatric patient. I believe in possesions. I believe you're most alive when you're fighting for the table of your neighbour, hitting him on the head because you want it, because you think it will look better in your house. Life's an eternal struggle, that's the essence of it, don't let Buddhism cheat you out of it. Fight for your table!Vera
Have you considered negotiating?Oscar
They told me they would bring me another table.A few minutes ago they were on my doorstep again.
My son told them I wasn't home! I was in the shower.
But again; this is not about a table, it is about people
who think they can give and take whenever, whatever
they want. Can I allow that?
Though I must admit it is also a very nice large table.
Oscar Wilde
That is a good idea. Tell them they can have it back if they get you an equal replacement. Or make up a story so they wouldn't want it back, such as that they can pick it up in three weeks when your aunt so and so is done having her wake on it, or you used it for your home child delivery because your bed is too low. Or that you use it as a massage table for friends and family, inspired by a great and magnanimous Romanian 'massage Jesus'.M I
I don’t believe that furniture is an accurate metaphor for prostitution. You don’t rent furniture for an hour or two. (There are exceptions I know)What’s the background of this question?hordijk
I don’t deny that life is a struggle for limited resources. I’m counseling Vera to pick her fights carefully.In my opinion she is better off without a table. Life without a table will make Vera a more interesting and stronger person.She could turn her house or apartment into a museum. “Come and see the woman without a table.”She should have a website: www.womanwithoutatable.com -- with pictures of Vera and her family eating and working on the floor. Perhaps even a live cam. I’m pretty sure that within a few months people from all over the world will send tables to Vera and she could start an antique shop.She will be a household name. Your idea of the fight is a fairly conservative one.
You can only survive the struggle for limited resources if you are willing to try unusual and untested albeit ethical methods.Vera with a table is nothing special, with all due respect, but Vera without a table has a unique selling point.
Seven
After seven years with the table, one could indeed cultivate seven years without a table. I can see the marketing potential identified by the ethical survival expert.Vera M.
If you want I will give you my table. You have kids. There must be something wrong with these people. Because it fits with their chairs?! wow is all I can say. I'd give it back faster than they can say thank you. But to you I say keep it. And don't explain. Enjoy this table to the max.@Vera M
If those people are able to make such an impression on you – are they that dangerous ? -, it is better to follow Arnon’s or Oscar’s advice.
(Otherwise unleash the dogs …)
If those people are able to make such an impression on you – are they that dangerous ? -, it is better to follow Arnon’s or Oscar’s advice.
(Otherwise unleash the dogs …)
Vera /Arnon
@ veraDon't take my comments too seriously.
And I need a bed. I'm too bony to sleep on the floor.
@ Arnon
That's the philosophy of all my relationships.
Vera
Negotiations ultimately are about people.Mr Grunberg
I can see your line of reasoning, but just giving a table away, that sounds like trouble to me. You know how people are, if they smell blood, they will come in for the kill. Today you give your table away, tomorrow they're standing on your doorstep for the couch. Other people, who have by then heard what happened, will come flying in to get some chairs, that other table, the bed, the television set.People from the neighbourhood who see this happening, will start coming in for some food, a painting, maybe to take a shower. First she will be kindley asked to step aside as she protests, but pretty soon she will receive the first beating as she tries save some of her belongings, she will be thrown on the ground, kicked, raped and eventually killed.
I gave a fully equipped apartment away.I'm sorry Vera, but I don't even have a table left for you.
Mieke
There's a fine line between buddhism and a clearance sale.eigentum ist diebstahl!
i used to like these words when i was young and some kind of a hippie/anarchist... but the times they are a' changing
i used to like these words when i was young and some kind of a hippie/anarchist... but the times they are a' changing
Hordijk
Your representation of the struggle of all against all is a bit schematic.If Vera gives her table away, or gives her table back, we have only heard her part of the story, for all I know she could have stolen the table, does not imply that the receivers of the table will smell blood and come for more goodies.Keep in mind that Vera by living without a table will be soon be a minor celebrity. She has already received a table from one of the commenters on this site and it is only a matter of weeks or she will make more money with selling tables on a day than most of the visitors of this site make in a month.Keep also in mind that something that looks like altruism can be a very sound survival strategy.table story
It is a sad story.Seven years ago two friends (a man and a woman) gave me a table. Two years later we lost contact. Monday afternoon they came by (naive as I am, I thought they came to link up again) and asked the table back. Not for themselves, for the one with the chairs (her brother). They came back yesterday. I was in the shower. They called on the phone - I didn't pick up. Last night I had an e-mail: they are bankrupt, they are in need of cash, the one with the chairs promised them 1000 euro when they bring him the table.
I thank you all for your advice. Now I have to hurry to my work.
Will be continued.
table story/the sequel
I received an e-mail of the one with the chairs. He writes:'my sister had no right to give you the table, it belonged to the family, it is an inheritance. ' He offers me 1000 euro to buy
another table.
1000 Euro
I have to admit I don't know that much about tables, but a 1000 Euro seems like a lot of money for a piece of wood you put your dishes on? This probably means it is actually worth a lot more: being an inheritance, maybe it's anthique and worth a fortune.Vera
Are you sure your friends are bancrupt? It sounds to me like they wanted to obtain your sympathy or make you feel guilty.Vera
You might want to unscrew the table legs to see if something is hidden inside.
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