by Norman Barry

Like many other films, the screening of these two was delayed because of COVID. They are both about dementia. It somehow seems appropriate that such films should be subject to a pandemic.

One film is almost totally confined to an apartment and shows an old man (81) in the final stages of Alzheimer’s. The other takes place in the wide open spaces of Cumbria and reveals the first stages of the disease. In The Father the old man is played by Anthony Hopkins (who gained his second Oscar for this part). He is mainly being cared for by his daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman) since he cannot get on with any of the helpers she recruits. He insists he doesn’t need any help. The story is difficult to follow since it plays as live the people he imagines are in his flat – though actually it’s his daughter’s home. Not that Anne was his favourite daughter. He doesn’t any longer remember that the other was killed in a crash.

Supernova is about the relationship of two gay men who have been together 20 years. Sam (Colin Firth) is a concert pianist, Tusker (Stanley Tucci) is a writer who can no longer compose a sentence. They travel in a campervan to Sam’s next engagement meeting friends and visiting the place where they first met. Supernova refers to Tusker’s interest in astronomy. He gets the chance to explain to a child that we are all made of the same stuff as the stars. Like the stars we all die.

Both these films have been reviewed with a wide variety of opinion running from ‘stupendous’ to ‘very boring’. The difficulty is displaying the true characteristics of the disease. Both the actors are compos mentis. They are basically in charge of themselves, playing only the parts of dementia that we are familiar with such as forgetting or being unable to put on a sweater properly. There is relatively little about the disintegration that accompanies the disease.

Alzheimer’s is chaotic. It affects all the senses. Early onset dementia is particularly hard to define. Once it is full blown it is easy to go back to the first signs. But when it starts it can easily be put down to normal forgetfulness. Alzheimer’s is hard to define. There can be lucid periods. It must be very difficult for an actor. Hopkins and Tucci play normal people with the some of the characteristics of Alzheimer’s added. It is therefore difficult to sympathise with either character.

That said, the films di splay the possible outcomes for the person affected – either to be confined to a nursing home or become a DIY suicide. It is a hard choice. In Still Alice (OH 250) the question was raised as to whether Alzheimer’s is different from other diseases that afflict us the longer we live. It is different because it strikes at relationships when the physical side looks alright. All that is left is love. Love alone is the answer to the care home or to suicidal plans.

In the appropriately named French film Amour (OH 226) the problems of senescence are met head on by two well known but aged actors. Even if Alzheimer’s is not in the frame the problems of growing old are considerable. Once again cinema reminds us of what we would rather not think about. As babies we were looked after. The old and not so old deserve as much.