Roy Andersson came to wider public attention in 2014 with his acclaimed, bizarrely titled black comedy “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence”. That film was a follow up to award-winning “Songs From the Second Floor”, released some 14 years previously. The Swedish director can, then, hardly be described as prolific. Indeed, like the characters that people them, his films are slow and meditative, and just the right side of eccentric.

His latest project, “About Endlessness” is in the Andersson tradition of a series of vignettes strung together by a common theme--here the characters muse on the subject of eternity, reflect on their own mortality, discuss the finite nature of the universe or simply acknowledge, or in some cases fail to recognise, the beauty of the mundane amidst the chaos that the world throws at them.

Watch the trailer to “About Endlessness”

About Endlessness Trailer from Roy Andersson on Vimeo.

A narrator helps guide the audience through each episode with a repeated introduction, “I saw a man….” or “I saw a woman…” she starts, before describing a peculiar trait of the character in question. We meet a priest who has lost his faith, a dentist lost to the bottle, and even a final days Adolf Hitler who has lost the respect of his officers. But amid the absurdity and nuanced despair, there are also moments of beauty and hope and it is all filmed with Andersson’s customary elegance. It is a film that lingers in the memory.

Delano will pick a film of the day from the programme every day throughout the Lux Film Fest. Duncan Roberts is a member of the festival’s selection committee.

“About Endlessness” screens on Saturday 7 March at 9.15pm at Ciné Utopia. It is also on 8 March at 7pm and 14 March at 11am at the Cinémathèque.