Maja Doroteja Prelog begins Cent’anni with a backstory meet-cute worthy of a romantic comedy.
Maja met Blaz Murn while the two were students and they immediately hit it off. Blaz was super cool; he was estranged from his father and so had a sense of freedom and self-determination that Maja was captivated by. Soon they were off making films together until, one morning in 2017, Blaz collapsed. He was quickly diagnosed with acute leukemia and began immediate chemotherapy and their life and their love would never be the same again. The impact of Blaz’s illness on their relationship sits at the heart of Cent’anni, a film about what it means to go through something so harrowing together and apart. It is a film so intimate and personal, that it is frankly miraculous that Prelog has managed to produce something as self-reflective and clear-eyed as she has.
The period outlined above – the couple’s relationship before and during Blaz’s illness – is presented through a compilation of archival footage. Families gather, Maja ad Blaz smile, then hospitals begin to appear more regularly, with convalescence and recovery taking centre stage. Despite the inherent drama of their story, it is not this that Cent’anni is about, but Blaz’s resolve to cycle his own version of the Giro d’Italia, from the Dolomites to Mount Etna, to prove himself robust and healthy and capable of living for 100 years (hence the title). He asks Maja to accompany him and to make a film of his feat. He wants something quiet and measured – to embody his will and determination more than playing his recent life as spectacle.
Prelog duly obliges, crafting a document of his journey that manages to be both stirring and modest. The camera observes Blaz from the back of a van as he makes his way up steep inclines or freewheels his way back down them. His trip across the majestic Italian countryside is beautifully presented by the camerawork of Lev Predan Kowarski, who shot the film alongside Prelog. The Giro is one of the three Grand Tours, and its grandeur seems to only be elevated by the context of Blaz’s mission – one of inner healing and transformation. However, an expedition that was intended to be a celebratory becomes anything but as Maja and Blaz’s relationship is put to the test across the course of their time on the road.
While keen to capture the simple accomplishment of what Blaz is doing, Prelog is never afraid to leave the camera rolling – or have it turned upon herself – to probe at the regular emotional collisions that occur during their pitstops. Maja gave up a lot to support Blaz through his illness and evidently, at times, feels that her partner is harshly dismissive of her experience. For his part, Blaz’s anger at what he has been through, and his frustration at those who are not – and never will be – able to truly understand his perspective is palpable. The pair regularly clash, Blaz often feeling that the film crew is at once lacking in empathy and also derailing this almost spiritual quest.
Naturally, all of this is framed through Prelog’s lens and her thoughtful voiceover adds a further layer of her viewpoint on the events, but it is an impressively level eye that she casts. As their relationship not only enters choppy waters but actively feels as though it is beginning to disintegrate, Prelog tries to remain true both to both her subject and herself. She allows Blaz the space to vent at her, often taking his ire without a word of rebuke, while never shying away from the camera turning on her afterwards to record her private reaction. Likewise, she also voices some of her own frustrations to Blaz, and in turn allows the opportunity to see his remorse after a stinging attack.
All of this is difficult and painful to watch, but it is delicately pulled together by Prelog and her editor Uros Maksimovic so as to never lean in favour of one side. What might put some viewers off is its – arguable – sense that after what they had been through together, the people they used to be and the love they shared could never have survived. Regardless, Cent’anni is a moving and thought-provoking insight into a process of shared recovery and what emerging from that means for all parties.
Director: Maja Doroteja Prelog
Cast: Maja Doroteja Prelog,Blaz Murn, Maja Murn
Producers: Rok Bicek, Alessandro Leone (III), Massimo Casula, Marta Leone, Biljana Tutorov
Screenplay: Maja Doroteja Prelog, Blaz Murn
Cinematography: Maja Doroteja Prelog, Lev Predan Kowarski
Editing: Uros Maksimovic
Production Design: Blaz Murn
Sound: Julij Zornik, Riccardo Spagnol
Music: Sebastian Zawadzki
Productions Companies: Cvinger Film (Slovenia), Agresywna Banda (Poland), Zena Films (Italy), Wake Up Films (Serbia), Zwinger Film (Austria)
Venue: Sarajevo Film Festival (Competition Programme – Documentary Film)
In Slovenian, Italian
90 minutes
