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Spotlight on France
Amaury Brumauld, France, 2008, 52 minutes
For some time, filmmaker Brumauld has been taking his parents to the hospital for medical appointments, and slowly but surely he begins to accept that death is right around the corner. He realizes that there is not a moment to lose and at the same time he’s lost the feeling of being connected, particularly to his mother as her fundamental skills falter. As his mother’s memory fades he feels, for the first time, the urge to film her.
Brumauld visits his mother, a painter, in her art studio. Suffering from dementia, she is no longer able to paint, but Brumauld decides that they will paint together. He encourages her to pick up a brush and when she stands at the easel, not sure how to proceed, he steps in to demonstrate.
They continue to work together despite her worsening condition, taking us on a journey somewhere between fiction and documentary. They travel down a winding road that traverses past and present and through this journey their shared emotions become increasingly palpable.
Far from seeking the viewer’s sympathy, Brumauld sweeps us up in the fight to help his mother paint — undoubtedly fought in vain, but the struggle keeps them together. Amidst the disorder of her gestures, her acts and her verbal expression, his mother does not lose her appetite for emotion or the surrounding world.
Filmmaker in attendance
» Website
Preceded by:
Mum
Adelheid Roosen, Netherlands, 2009, 19 minutes
In staged vignettes, well known Dutch actress Roosen presents her own relationship and that of other family members to her elderly mother, who is suffering from dementia. Roosen’s mother is in a large bathtub, sitting on the lap of her other daughter, who is affectionately supporting her. The static camera records the daughter’s tender movements and the mother’s evident pleasure. In another scene, the mother is in the arms of her son-in-law while they eat one chocolate after the other. The static camera makes these short scenes inescapable and powerful. Mum is a very visual, loving and humorous attempt to gain an understanding of an elusive disease.
» Website
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