Forever is a Dutch film made by the experienced documentarian Heddy Honigmann. Its subject is Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris but its scope includes life and death, history and memory, art and beauty. Père-Lachaise is the final resting place of famous artists and ordinary citizens alike, and it also houses public memorials to the dead of the Paris Commune, the Holocaust and the French Resistance. Pilgrims come from all over the world to pay their respects to the celebrated dead and to acknowledge the importance of art and history in their own lives. A Japanese pianist visits Chopin’s tomb and plays his music to remember her father; an Iranian exile visits the author Sadegh Hedayat and is coaxed into singing a Persian song; an embalmer admires Modigliani’s understanding of the human face, a skill he emulates in his profession; the unofficial cemetery historian points out his favourite spots and explains how the grave of a forgotten singer brought joy to his life. Honigmann knows the effectiveness of patience and silence, and by giving her subjects space to reflect, she allows them to offer their most private and profound thoughts to the camera. Their insights and actions show the value of art and the possibility it offers for eternallife.