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The International Film Showcase starting May 13 at the Orinda Theatre features the Canadian film from Québec, "You Will Remember Me," that poetically, yet realistically addresses the loss of memory and self caused by Alzheimer's disease. The movie is not grim or sad; it has humor and tenderness. It gently uncovers the traces left in the main character's soul by those he has loved as he slowly loses ground with reality.
Édouard, a passionate and brilliant retired history professor, is starting to lose his immediate memory. He used to be asked to talk on different media about political and social affairs, he used to give lessons and be in control, but he is now aware of what the disease is doing to his brain. He does not want to give up, he feels that his new state of being can still allow him to share important lessons about life and what really matters.
No one in his family is willing or able to take care of a man who is becoming increasingly a danger to himself, so his care is given to young Bérénice, the daughter of his daughter's new partner. The meeting of these two people who have so little in common open new doors for the two of them and
Édouard will have to face again a part of his past that he had decided to bury forever.?
In an interview for the Québecois media lesartsze.com, film director Eric Tessier said that his purpose was to create a bright movie even if the topic was rather dark. Even if a person is in fact gradually disappearing, Tessier wanted to show a way toward light, as those surrounding the sick person start accepting his fate.?
But as Édouard indeed progresses toward a kind of peace, alongside Bérénice, other members of the family just cannot cope. The film shows without any judgment that taking care of someone with Alzheimer's might not be for everyone and that recognizing the impossibility to care for a sick member of the family should not be a source of shame or guilt.?
Rémy Girard who plays Édouard deserves accolades for creating a character at times arrogant and insufferable and at times vulnerable and touching. The actor said that while playing
Édouard, he remembered his own father who suffered from that same disease and how sometimes his gaze seemed to be lost in the void, as if the whole person was gone.
The film received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. "You Will Remember Me" will be presented in Orinda as a USA Premiere starting May 13 for at least one week. Tickets, dates and times can be found on the International Film Showcase website at: www.internationalshowcase.org
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA