Spanish dramatic short Paris 70 from director Dani Feixas-Roca follows a man named Jan (Alain Hernández) caring for his elderly mother. Angela (Luisa Gavasa) is suffering from Alzheimer’s and wakes each day missing memories. She often asks Jan where his father is. Jan’s sadness deepens as he must tell her that his father died of cancer two years ago, but she has forgotten his death and the funeral that she arranged. He reports to their home care nurse (Neus Asensi) that Angela’s condition is deteriorating.
One day, he can’t bear to tell her that her husband has died, and instead, Jan lies and says he’s gone on a trip to Paris. This sparks her memories of their honeymoon in Paris, and she spends a joyful day with the photo album of that trip. In this way, Jan is able to help her each day relive happy times from different journeys in her beautiful, golden youth. She surrounds herself each day with memories of places like Paris or Lisbon as Jan iterates through their old photo albums. Jan’s insightful act of compassion illustrates that brutal honesty is often more brutal than it is helpful. The emotional logic is that sometimes a notion is true, despite not being factually accurate.
“…he must tell her that his father died of cancer two years ago, but she has forgotten…”
Paris 70 is deeply inspired by Feixas-Roca’s own experience when his grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s and his mother cared for her at home. He gracefully delivers the authentic emotional impact of this situation in the compressed time of the short film. He manages in 15 minutes what many filmmakers do not achieve in a full-length feature.
Most people will face a situation like this in their own lives at some point, as either the caregiver, the patient, or both, and we can all hope that the emotional bond of joy that Jan brings to his mother is how it plays out. Paris 70 gives us both the pain and fear of Angela as she wakes to confusion and weakness each day, as well as the anguish of her son as he tries balancing living his adult life with being her caregiver.
"…delivers the authentic emotional impact of the situation..."
