A Life Together
A Reunion of Sorts
I took my mother for a walk through a graveyard. As we wander between the graves, Mum remembers old friends, neighbours, my former headmistress and assorted characters from lives gone by.
Julie and Roddy have spent nearly 30 years building a life around marriage, music and performance. Together, they run a professional puppeteering company and are involved in running a large Morris dancing troupe in Norfolk. Behind all the puppets and dancing is a story about the wonderfully individual life two people can create together.
Filmmaker’s note
This film wasn’t planned. Mum and I had walked through the graveyard the day before, and she was so funny that I decided to return with my camera.
It is one of her favourite places to walk. It is peaceful, familiar and, importantly, tarmacked, which makes it safer underfoot. She reckons she has 23 friends buried there, along with friends’ husbands, old neighbours, my former headmistress and assorted characters from my childhood.
There was no interview plan. We simply walked and talked. I hadn’t expected my own voice to remain in the film, but because it is my mother, it naturally worked. The result is looser and more personal than most of my films - and slightly more absurd.
Reviews
Mum’s review: “Do I really sound like that?”
Brother's review: A bit sick.
Film details
Title: A Walk Through the Graveyard with My Mother
Location: Surrey, UK
Year: 2026
Filmmaker: Celia Peterson
Themes: Mothers and daughters, ageing, memory, mortality, family, friendship and community
Running time: 5.53 mins
Filmmaker’s note
I was initially drawn to Julie and Roddy because their life seemed wonderfully particular. There were handmade puppets, Morris dancing, music and a jacket Julie had decorated with Roddy's old guitar strings. But once we began filming, those things became a way of seeing the relationship underneath.
They met during a difficult period in Julie’s life. She was raising two children alone and struggling with the mortgage when Roddy, a finance man she had only recently met, offered to help. Her response was not suspicion, but: “What a kind man. I trust this man.”
While filming them at home and performing, I became interested in the shorthand they had developed over nearly 30 years. Julie tells the stories. Roddy listens, occasionally contributing a perfectly timed “Yes, dear.”
The film raised a larger question about long relationships. Perhaps a life together is not built through grand declarations, but through the interests, jokes, objects and quirky things two people gradually make their own.
Film details
Title: A Love Story
Location: Norfolk, England
Year: 2026
Filmmaker: Celia Peterson
Themes: Marriage, later-life love, companionship, professional puppetry, Morris dancing, creativity
Running time: 14 minutes 48 seconds
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