“The Michel-Sarrazin home hosts people with terminal cancer. The access and care are free for all. The death of the patient generally takes place within three weeks of admission,” read these three succinct sentences written in white letters on a black frame at the beginning of Des Adieux (The Goodbyes), a most sensitive documentary directed by renowned Canadian filmmaker Carole Laganière and produced and photographed by Argentine documentary maker/cinematographer Franca González.
After reading the introductory statements, you might think you are going to see a depressing feature that will expose suffering and death in equal doses. And whereas both suffering and death are, of course, present in the film, nothing could be farther from your guess.
First and foremost, Des Adieux is a serene, luminous film despite the harshness of the reality it depicts. It’s the kind of respectful work that stays in your heart in a very profound way.
Yes, it’s a painful film to watch. However, it’s not about pain. Instead, it’s about loving care and accompanying your loved ones in their last days before the long goodbye. Because the Michel-Sarrazin home is a place where people go to die. As simple — and as complex — as that.
In order to eschew the iciness and automatism of a hospital or the loneliness of a home with no people in it, patients go to Michel-Sarrazin to die in a dignified way. That is to say, with their loved ones surrounding them, with the kind attention of compassionate nurses, in a peaceful environment.
But make no mistake: this is certainly not about turning death into a trauma-free experience (which is impossible by all accounts), but about making it less excruciating, as simple — and as complex — as that. Above all, it means not being alone at the end of the line.
The experience of watching Des Adieux is not an easy one. It shouldn’t be. But since Laganière’s perceptive gaze is focused on the last rites of life before death arrives, then you won’t find a gloomy work here either. In a very intimate and almost invisible manner, González’s insightful camera observers some moments in the days and nights of a handful of patients.
It records some apparently unimportant instants — a woman has her hair done by a kind hairdresser, another one smokes some cigarettes as she talks to relatives out in the garden, an old man confesses he feels quite lonely at home so he’d rather be with his ill wife at all times — which are indeed quite significant for they are imbued with absolute affection for each other.
With neither a single blow below the belt nor a hint of melodrama (this is not Hollywood, after all), narrated along a meditative and introspective tone, with enough restraint yet also with much feelings, Des Adieux is a film to be remembered for its unusual mix of intelligence and sensitivity in addressing a most delicate issue for us all.
Production notes
Des Adieux (Canada, Argentina, 2015). Directed by Carole Laganière. Cinematography: Franca González. Editing: Aube Foglia, Arianne Petel-Despots. Running time: 63 minutes.
