All Winter Without Fire

Talking about grieve, every character in Greg Zglinski’s “All Winter Without Fire (Tout un Hiver sans Feu)” carries enough to sink a ship. Laure sank into deep depression with bouts of hysteria. Jean masked his shattered self behind fake stoicism. Labionta lived in constant longing for his missing husband. Even the friendly Blerim exploded when the slightest of threats against his sister was perceived. We do not see the worst of the pain directly. We only see it through the tone of their speech and their eyes. This is no doubt thanks to the exceptional case and Zglinski’s ability to capture them. In the beginning Jean appeared to be a rock against the avalanche of sadness; but as the story progressed we realized that his stoicism was not going to save him. Labionta and Blerim, with the Kosovar and Albanian communities’ help, were able to live relatively normal life. Even Laure was able to come to accept the accident and the death of her daughter, after depression and hysteria. We saw in Jean’s eyes just more more pain and guilt. It is as if all the other characters were there to illustrate Jean’s descent into hopelessness. There are times when he could have pulled out of the descent, but he was not able to. In the end, he questioned even his own love. The Swiss Alps never looked so uninviting.