2016 Hot Docs ‘A Strange Love Affair with Ego’

A Strange Love Affair with Ego (2015), directed by Ester Gould, is a poignant multi-faceted documentary that explores the human love affair with ego, the director’s relationship with her older sister Rowan whom she loved deeply and idolized from childhood, and the social phenomenon of the “me me me” of social media.

Gould brilliantly weaves together many visual elements to create a fascinating and insightful film.   It includes recreated scenes of her happy childhood with her older sister,  interviews with elementary school children on the subject of self-confidence,  and if they care what other people think of them, a snapshot of the lives of three articulate fascinating self-confident women with whom Gould explores the concept of ego and self-confidence, a first-person interview with a therapist who specializes in treating narcissism that frames and contextualizes the notion of a healthy and an unhealthy narcissism (self-love) and perhaps offers insight as to what may have  happened to Rowan, and gorgeous images of nature.   Gould uses text, instead of voice-over, super-imposed on the moving images like sub-titles to narrate her relationship with her sister, what Rowan meant to her, and what befell her beloved sister.  The text is comprised of Gould’s thoughts, impressions, comments, and correspondance the two sisters sent to one another.

Gould begins her film with out of focus images of nature that are saturated with colour which gradually become more focussed cutting to the movement of two sets of boots, one trailing the other, and than to a scene of two girls exploring the woodlands.   I liked the out of focus images which I equated with abstraction and to the ego, which is both an abstract idea and a psychological construct.  One of many visually powerful scenes in the film is an aerial shot of several children trailing a young girl running across a never-ending landscape stretching into the horizon with Gould’s text, “What will our lives be like in ten years?”   Gould poses the same question to the elementary school children she interviews.

Gould creates intriguing portraits of the three women documented in the film which I found compelling to watch.  The three women are incredibly open and candid with their lives, and I felt that each of the women embodied some aspect of Rowan’s larger than life personality and character.  Viviana tells us that her art is based on self-confrontation.  It was interesting to watch her film based on the character of Mrs. Dalloway where she presents herself as Mrs. Dalloway and then telling us that her friends describe her as a Mrs. Dalloway type.    I loved GGeisha’s spunk and her philosophy to life, and thought it would be cool to attend one of her Dripped events which an attendee described as a “breeding ground for self-love.”    Unlike Viviana and GGeisha, the third main female character in the documentary epitomizes for me the “me me me” of the social media phenomenon who goes out of her way to cultivate a social media presence.

A Strange Love Affair with Ego is a well-crafted and thought out documentary with a personal twist.  It has amazing visuals complemented with a terrific soundtrack.  It is beautifully shot, and explores a fascinating topic but most important of all it is a testament of love to a beloved sister.  Do see it for you won’t be disappointed.

A Strange Love Affair with Ego will be playing at 

TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 on April 28 @ 9:45 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre 3 on April 29 @ 3:15 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre 7 on May 7 @ 4:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased here!