Floating Bodies

Forensic experts and detectives talk about finding the balance between emotion and professionalism when examining the bodies of drowning victims. The viewer joins a water police vessel searching for a reported corpse and follows the process that ensues. Over the calm, almost poetic scenes of landscapes, dredging machines and the autopsy, five rescue workers and specialists talk about how they experience the work they do. Time and again there is the initial shock and sense of sympathy, but then professionalism kicks in and chases away such feelings. The human remains become the subject of examination. Most of the victims ended up in the water as a result of suicide, and they are treated with a remarkable degree of respect – the bodies are washed and examined with real tenderness. The voice-over discusses the dilemmas involved in applying makeup to an unidentified victim, for what if this person never had rosy cheeks in life? Likewise, filmmaker Nelleke Koop is respectful when shooting close-up details of bodies and personal possessions. This serene portrait captures a profession in which the macabre consequences of a personal tragedy are part of daily life, but never become routine.