macarthur
classics on DVD | cinema
classics on DVD | visual
arts videos
issues of aging videos |
health videos | previous
collections
to order
issues of aging titles | about
us | contact us
| home
This Academy Award-nominated documentary
chronicles the various stages of Alzheimer's disease of the filmmaker's
eighty-four year old mother. Doris Hoffmann's disease began in her early
seventies and progressed rapidly after her husband passed away. Soon,
it became necessary for her daughter to become involved in her care. It
shows her daughter Deborah's desire to cure the incurable. Her commitment
to change her mother eventually gives way to an acceptance, which is liberating
for both daughter and mother. As Deborah comes to terms with the irrevocable
nature of her mother's illness, Doris begins to abandon her prejudice
against Deborah's lesbian identity as she adjusts to living life in the
moment. Further, after the initial frustration of trying to locate someplace
for her increasingly dependent mother to live, Deborah finds a facility
with an enlightened approach towards Alzheimer's patients. This alternately
funny and heartbreaking production is an exploration of family relations,
aging, the meaning of memory, and the tenacity of love.
