Dementia in film

In order to make a short film about dementia I first wanted to research other films which centre around the effects of dementia on the individual and their families/loved ones. I will summarise each film and assess how the film explored the issue of dementia and whether I can use aspects from the story's in my final piece.

The Notebook (2004)

'The Notebook' centres around an elderly couple in a nursing home, one of which has dementia. She is read the story of their relationship by her husband in order to help her remember, which is revealed at the end of the film. The film focus' more on their romantic past than tackling the issue of dementia, however, this is the most well known film that has dementia as a main plot point. There isn't much about this film that I can take inspiration from as it only shows the effects of dementia on Allie shortly at the end of the film and not over an extended period of time.

Away From Her (2006)

'Away From Her' also follows an elderly couple, Grant and Fiona. They find out Fiona is developing Alzheimer's disease and she decides to check into a nursing home. Grant visits her after 30 days, per the homes policy, and discover Fiona has forgotten him and fallen in love with another patient. This film has a much stronger focus of the issues dementia causes, not just to Fiona but her husband too. I think this film is more beneficial to my project than 'The Notebook' as you can see more of a difference in the character from the start of the film to the end of the film - you can see how the dementia has developed.

Shutter Island

Edward Daniels and his partner travel to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient. After several days Daniels is convinced that the hospital are giving sane patients and staff lobotomy's in order to cover up experiments. Dr. John Cawley, the lead psychiatrist, explains that Daniels is actually their most dangerous patient who murdered his manic depressive wife after she drowned their children. The events of the past several days have been designed to break his conspiracy-laden insanity by allowing him to play out the role of Daniels. Although this film doesn't directly deal with the issue of dementia, it does have a main theme of memory loss which affects the entire film plot and many visual effects. I really liked how the film used decaying effects in the flashback/hallucination scenes. I think it would be effective to use this technique in my film to represent how dementia destroys relationships and causes actual decay in peoples lives (food, health, cleanliness, etc)

I was quite surprised about the lack of films which deal with the topic of dementia and Alzheimer's as there's lots of effects to explore which could be portrayed in many interesting ways. This research has been moderately helpful to my idea development as I can use some of the techniques used in these films in my script. However, both of the films that actually deal with dementia were more focused on the romantic story rather than the effects caused by Alzheimer's.

Extreme Love: Dementia

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO-wxIy9sHyadSYnON9pmxzWosQquCoJL

This documentary made by Louis Theroux touches on several people's experiences living with dementia. This documentary touches on more of the issues caused by Alzheimer's than the two previous films. This is due to documentaries being much more focused on real life stories and experiences rather than changing the truth to make a story more dramatic or romantic. I think this documentary is much more effective than 'The Notebook' or 'Away From Her' as its much more upfront about how difficult it is to have dementia or care for some one who has dementia - it's much more hard hitting and therefore effects the audience more.

The Notebook - The Notebook. (2004). [film] Directed by N. Cassavetes. United States: New Line Cinema.

Away From her - Away From Her. (2006). [film] Directed by S. Polley. Canada: Lionsgate Films.

Shutter Island - Shutter Island. (2010). [film] Directed by M. Scorsese. United States: Paramount Pictures.

Extreme Love: Dementia - Extreme Love: Dementia. (2012). [video] United Kingdom: Dan Child.