Amor Fati seeks out parts that complete each other. These are portraits of couples, friends, families and pets and their owners. They share the intimacy of daily life, habits, beliefs, tastes and even some physical traits. From their faces, from the choreography of their gestures, we unveil the story that binds them.

Production notes

Do we believe in the concept of soulmates? Can two hearts beat as one? Amor Fati offers a compendium of dead-ringer twins, boon companions and bosom buddies that collectively illustrates how many lives are only complete with the addition of that certain someone special. – –

Varejão begins by quoting a speech from Aristophanes in Plato’s ’Symposium’ asserting that “each of us are only one side of the coin whose halves have been separated”. Shot over two years, Amor Fati builds a mosaic from the fragments of lives and relationships in which couples are inseparable. Individual stories are chopped up and folded together into the bigger picture. – –

The film is peppered with close-ups that scrutinise lined faces, wrinkled skin and the misty eyes of those lost in adoration for the object of their affections. It is a very contemplative, reflective film that is more concerned with observation than any commentary or rush towards profound conclusions.

Allan Hunter, Screen Daily