Woods Hole Film Festival 2009

Barbara Luccock, a 93-year-old widow, returns to the place where she fell in love in an attempt to say her final goodbye to her late husband, Robert. The couple met in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, in 1945 and together returned every summer for 61 years. But this story of love, loss and the ritual of summer in Maine is more than a retelling of an individual romance. Shot by the Luccock’s grandsons, “Once More to the Cabin” is a meditation on aging, memory and how one’s sense of place changes over the course of time.The principal action of the documentary is Barbara’s first journey back to Boothbay since her husband’s death, her first trip back to her log cabin that’s been a family destination for four generations. The story of the cabin itself, how it has weathered time and how the family’s use and perception of it has evolved, resonates with Barbara’s own transformation.Filmmakers Jim and Tom Isler also reconstruct the chance encounter and courtship of their grandparents with interviews they shot with both Barbara and Robert in 1997 and color film footage of the Luccock’s wedding.Photographing Boothbay in all four seasons, the Isler brothers enhance the personal drama with additional insights about the cyclical nature of time and the experience of aging.The film’s title is a reference to E.B. White’s essay, “Once More to the Lake,” which tells a related story of confronting mortality set against the backdrop of summers in Maine.