In recent years, much has been said about caregivers, those people who take care of a sibling who is disabled or suffering from a disability, an elderly or sick relative, or even both… More recently, the he carnage in CHSLDs has brought to the fore the question of the fate reserved for seniors. These two themes are tackled head-on in the film. A crazy lifewhich, while acutely exploring the drama that the characters experience, breathes a certain levity into a situation that is not obvious.
Winner of seven Magritte awards in Belgium, including those for best film, best screenplay, best actress and best actor, and the Audience Award at the Cinemania festival, A crazy life is the first feature film by Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni, a couple in the city, who were partly inspired by their experiences to write the screenplay. The plot revolves around Alex and Noémie (Jean Le Peltier and Lucie Debay, very fair, very natural), in their thirties. We meet them at the doctor’s when they are talking about having their first child.
The sequence — other similar ones will follow — is reminiscent of the series A boy a girlwith this medium shot of the spouses who gently tease each other for the benefit of an interlocutor who is destined to remain an abstract presence.
Various daily sequences follow, some of which feature Suzanne, Alex’s mother. Suzanne who, more and more, shows signs of confusion…
The diagnosis of semantic dementia comes early in the story, and for a time the authors maintain a light tone, despite the excitement aroused. Gradually, however, as Suzanne’s condition deteriorates and Alex’s denial gives way to a form of depression, the film shifts from dramatic comedy to comic drama.
fancy touches
The transition is made quite naturally, not only because Sirot and Balboni paint a credible portrait of the disease, but also because they offer, with Suzanne, a memorable three-dimensional character (Jo Deseure is absolutely fabulous).
Above all, the duo refrains from laying on her a condescending look passing for benevolence. Suzanne’s cognition is unraveling, and Alex can’t help it. In this regard, the growing disarray of this outdated son and Noémie’s feeling of exclusion are treated with as much lucidity as Suzanne’s decline.
The film thus never loses sight of this young couple who wanted a child, but who suddenly find themselves “relative” to Alex’s mother. “My mother, my friend, and sometimes my child”, sang Clémence DesRochers…
Throughout, the filmmakers brighten up their staging with small touches of fantasy, for example by using a monochrome palette à la Wes Anderson during meetings with these actors kept off-screen.
Admittedly, the ending errs a bit on the utopian side — in fairness, though, the point is that there’s a big smile emerging through the tears. A painful film at times, but which, in the end, does a world of good.