All that Shines

Wannsee is a villa district on the outskirts of Berlin. Lydia lives in one of the houses. "My job is to keep everything clean for others so that their everyday life is comfortable and pleasant." Lydia works as a domestic helper for a Berlin family. She lives in the basement of the house, cleans, walks the dogs, takes care of the garden, tends to the house. Her employers are away a lot and her daily routine is lonely. The only social contact during the week is the other household staff who occasionally help Lydia around the villa. Her closest friends are the dogs she looks after. With them she shares daily life and bed. Lydia has been working in German private households for over 30 years. It is an invisible life behind closed doors. Lydia tries to defy her everyday life by dressing extravagantly, rehearsing for operatic appearances, flirting online and dancing ballet in the evenings. In Poland, Lydia's mother is sick in bed and waiting. The mother and the alcoholic brother share a one-room apartment. Lydia often commutes to her Polish home to take care of her mother and brother. The mother is taken care of, shopping is done for the brother, the earned Euros are exchanged for Zlotys and the trip back to Berlin begins. The villa in Berlin and the room in Poland, two places in Lydia's life that are from different planets, yet only a few hundred kilometers apart. It is a life with a rolling suitcase that knows no arrival. The train has become Lydia's real home over the years. The train is full of women like Lydia, with whom she shares her fate. Women who all clean in Berlin, take care of children and nurse the elderly. Very rarely she can do anything for herself, but she would never let herself go. She still has a year until retirement, but whether she will ever be able to retire is questionable. Gregor Eppinger gives a face to one of the many women who work in secret in our country. He shows how they keep the meritocracy going with precarious work without social security.