Nathalie Berger
Switzerland | 2023 | 62 min
World premiere
Language : English
Subtitle : French
The Chagrin Valley assisted living facility for dementia sufferers is home to a fragile and ageing population. Punctuated by fleeting conflicts, confusion and long-awaited family visits, the day-to-day life of the residents drags on. Chagrin Valley is a caring enquiry into our relationship with old age and a glimpse into the substance of our collective dreams.
The sun shines every day in Chagrin Valley, USA. Frozen in a 1950s-inspired artificial decor, this assisted living facility for people who suffer from dementia is home to fragile and ageing residents. Here, everyday life drags on slowly. Florence and her companions dream of an elusive elsewhere during their days punctuated by confusion, fleeting conflicts and overdue family visits. The caregivers – as kind as they are exhausted – run the show in this pastel-coloured, sanitised social theatre. Between two shifts, they confess their desire for a better future; one that is not so different from that of the residents, after all. The Swiss documentary maker Nathalie Berger, a Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) graduate, casts a tender and curious look over her protagonists. Examining our relationship with old age, illness and the universal fear of dying, and gently probing into the matter of our individual and collective dreams, she interrogates the false promises of our contemporary society.
Bastien Bento
Call me Intern, 2019
