Micky is as old as cinema itself. I’m not sure what this means, but then, how could I ever imagine what a hundred years feel like? Mathematically, it’s a year times one hundred, but as a lifespan, how many memories and souvenirs - good and bad - does is represent? How do you reminisce about a hundred years?

These thoughts are just a quantum of the many questions old age in general raises for me. Life for my grandparents’ generation was surely moving at a much slower pace than mine. I was born in the midst of the wildest imaginations of the future that they had imagined. But while everything seems to go faster today - we’ve never absorbed as much information per day before in history - time is still time, a second is still a second. And a hundred years must be lived to be understood.

The old lady in Bathing Micky (Micky Bader) says just that. In this 14-minute documentary, the actual time span depicted is about a year. Steady shots show her taking a brief daily swim at her bathing club on the beach.

It’s summer and Micky says a few words about her childhood. Autumn comes, and she remembers the German invasion of Denmark. In winter she has her late husband in mind, then spring arrives, and Micky says: "We’re all born, and we’ll all die…"

Frida Kempff has once again given words and images to those we don’t see often onscreen, by creating a form of portrait based on time. What Micky reveals in a year she could probably have in a one day interview, but it’s the turning seasons that finally give depth and weight to her recollections.

I saw Bathing Micky and its humble protagonist, Ebba Heyman, as a visualisation of the proverb: "Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water - After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water".

INTERVIEW – Frida Kempff

How did you meet Micky?

I was sure that I wanted to tell a story about an old lady, so I asked around Danish friends and finally met Ebba "Micky" Heyman. Old women inspire me and they don’t often get their voices heard.

What inspired you to follow her for so long?

Her good spirit, her ability to see things in a positive way and her stories. She’s been through a lot and I wanted to capture this lady before it was too late. Micky is very sick now, she’s at a hospital with a very weak heart and she will not come home anymore. I really hope she will get better, but like her son said: "She’s had 100 very happy years", and I am sure of that.

Talking to Micky, can you imagine yourself turning 100?

I would very much like to turn 100, but only if I could be like Micky, her positive energy has kept her going for so many years and like she says: "You should always try to live in the present" - sometimes you forget that kind of thing and what you have around you. Through Micky I find that I get perspective on my own life and I hope others may feel the same.

By Maximilien Van Aertryck