By the time the father of the young filmmaker Ruud Lenssen receives the diagnosis of vascular dementia, the disease is so advanced that the doctor’s words barely seem to register. But it’s all too clear to his wife Ria, and to Ruud and his sister: this is an irreversible process.
Type: feature documentary
Length: 71 min.
Production company: Ruud Lenssen Documentaires
Year: 2019, funded by the regulation for long projects (2017).
Shot in: Horst
Ruud Lenssen captures his parents’ dementia and caregiving journey. Father Jac has created his own little paradise: an acre of natural land with horses, chickens and a vegetable garden. The pasture is his life’s work and Jac is determined to continue caring for it. Especially now that he has been diagnosed with dementia. Nature and its animals give Jac comfort and support in an increasingly confusing existence. Mother Ria sees Jac’s deterioration with regret. The care for her husband increases and she has to give up more and more of her own life. Her feelings of love and caring regularly turn into frustration and loneliness. Despite this, she wants to care for Jac at home for as long as she can. But as Jac tries to hold on to his paradise, an inevitable goodbye approaches.
