Dear Audrey | Testimony of an incredible sweetness ★★★★

Montreal documentary filmmaker Martin Duckworth has dedicated his career to defending world peace. He tells his story here, in full transparency, as his wife, and the love of his life, goes through the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease. A story of life, but above all of love, of infinite sweetness.

Silvia Galipeau
The Press

Let’s make it clear from the start: Dear Audrey is not a film about illness. Rather, it is a rich, true and immensely touching account of a life. And not exactly Audrey’s either. Finally yes, but by the band. It is first that of Martin Duckworth, her husband, a renowned documentary filmmaker, who is in question here. And of their great and overwhelming love.

Born to a feminist mother on March 8, 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Martin Duckworth devoted his life to defending human rights, covering wars and peaceful demonstrations. Think Vietnam, Japan, Afghanistan. He even received the Albert-Tessier prize in 2015 for his exceptional contribution to the field of cinema.

Except that Martin Duckworth hung up his camera, as they say, to devote himself to his better half. And not halfway. This woman, his dear Audrey, to whom he owes an autistic daughter who does not accept her mother’s illness very well, quietly loses the ability to speak. From the head too. But not from the heart. She doesn’t lose her smile either. Even less his tenderness. And it’s reciprocal. You have to see him take her by the arm, caress her cheek, fall asleep next to her, above all. Together.

The film, of a slowness and an aestheticism of circumstance, directed by his friend and colleague Jeremiah Hayes, oscillates between present and past, intimate and professional life. It is full of archive images, family photos (many: Martin Duckworth had several wives, and many children!), all edited with skill and great sensitivity. A discreet animation is used to illustrate certain selected sections of his life. As for the narration, it is ensured by the main interested party, with his soft and hoarse voice, by a rich, committed life, as nomadic as it is creative, full of humanity.

Impossible to watch the 90 minutes of the documentary, celebrated by the Montreal public during the last RIDM (Prix du public), without being overwhelmed by this sweetness and this benevolence. By this very beautiful film, on this so beautiful love.

The film is presented in English, with French subtitles, at the Cinéma du Parc and the Cinémathèque québécoise.

Documentary

Dear Audrey (Dear Audrey)

Jeremiah Hayes

Martin Duckworth, Audrey Schirmer

1:30 a.m.

★★★★

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