Film: A Kind of Madness
Cast: Ashley de Lange, Gabe Gabriel, Evan Hengst, Loren Loubser, Sandra Prinsloo, Ian Roberts, Erica Wessels, Amy Louise Wilson, Luke Volker, Melanie Tafila
Director: Christiaan Olwagen
Rating: 3 stars
Runtime: 99 min
This South African film “A Kind of Madness,” deals with dementia and how love can be liberating even under trying circumstances. Elna (Sandra Prinsloo), suffers from dementia and because it becomes impractical to care for her at home, and with his three children ‘bullying’ him into choosing the option, her husband Dan (Ian Roberts) shifts her to a care facility.
The movie features a rebellious older couple fighting the imposition of restraints upon their love and freedom…even though it’s well-meant and a means of keeping them safe and protected.
The film opens with Elna in the care facility, unable to distinguish between the present and the past. Dan on the other hand feels guilty, heartbroken and unable to cope with being alone after a half-century of togetherness. He tells his children, “I can`t sit by and watch her wither away in that fucking shithole.” Eventually, he decides to spring her from the home and takes her on a road trip with his three children and the cops in hot pursuit.
Olwagen’s first English feature made for an international audience ( his previous features were all in Afrikaans) is a theatrical take on geriatric romance. The narrative gives us glimpses of the couple’s youthful romance and their time together, over the years, filters through to us on an imaginative lens. This is a road movie, family drama and tender bittersweet love story. Its poignancy ensnares quite potently.
Sandra Prinsloo and Ian Roberts live their roles as an old couple finding solace in being with each other even when one of them is delusional. Their younger versions, played by Ashley de Lange and Luke Volker give off similar, wildly in-love vibes. Erica Wessels, Evan Hengst and Amy Louise Wilson, as the three adult children, also nuanced in their confusion over the loss of emotional and mental acuity of their parents. As Ralph (played by Evan Hengst) questions his sibling, “By locking them up? What are we doing? Are we keeping them safe or keeping them prisoner, Lucy?” Their bewilderment at the turn of events, and their feelings of abandonment come out quite succinctly.
The costuming, cinematography, sound design, background score and direction aid in setting up a dreamy aesthetic. The past and present blending through fantastical delusions feels a bit confusing. The director perhaps wanted the audience to feel some of the delusions Elna and her family were trying to cope with. And it works. The addled nature of the narrative mirrors the patterns of memory in Elna’s mind.
This is not only a beautiful portrait of love in old age, it is also a film that questions the way we deal with old age and gives us an inside view of how families struggle to cope with long-term mental illness in their own different ways.
