CANCELLED - Dying alive + short films

A program of three short films:

DYING ALIVE

Original French version subtitled in English.
A short film by Benoit Brière, with Marcel Sabourin, Benoit Brière, Élise Guibault and Dorothée Berryman

Montreal, a multigenerational house loaded with books, paintings and knick-knacks, so many memories revived on the evening of one last Christmas Eve. Luc, a retired pediatrician and teacher in his eighties, lives with his son François, a pediatrician like his father, and François' wife Esther. Suffering and physically diminished, the old man has now decided to end his life. In a corrosive and sensitive verbal joust, he asks his son to end his days in privacy. The son then takes him on an existential and circus-like journey through the streets of Montreal where the father is supposed to go to his final destination, a hospital where he will be confronted with his ultimate wish: the choice between the finality of medical aid to die or a return to square one, the small pleasures of what remains of his life, alive.

THE JOURNEY

Original French version subtitled in English
A short film by Ève Saint-Louis, with Claude Laroche et Catherine Chabot

"After a year away from home, Chantale, who now lives and studies in Paris, returns to Quebec City, to spend the Holidays with her mother and sister. Against all odds, her father, with whom she has a contentious relationship, has offered to pick her up at the airport and drive her there. Hesitant about seeing him again, she accepts his offer nonetheless.
The Journey, tells the story of their reunion: a path strewn with obstacles, where nothing goes as planned. As night falls and the Father deviates from the planned route, Chantale will be faced with the hold he has on her, and will need to take action."

THE HUMAN VOICE

Original English version subtitled in French
A short film by Pedro Almodóvar, with Tilda Swinton et Agustín Almodóvar

A woman watches time passing next to the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up, but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn’t understand that his master has abandoned him. Two living beings facing abandonment. During the three days of waiting, the woman only goes out to the street once, to buy an axe and a can of gasoline.

The woman goes through all sorts of moods, from helplessness to despair and loss of control. She makes herself up, she dresses up as if going to a party, she considers throwing herself off of the balcony, until her ex-lover calls on the phone, but she’s unconscious because she’s taken a combination of thirteen pills and cannot answer the call. The dog licks her face until she wakes up. After a cold shower, revived by a coffee as black as her state of mind, the telephone rings again and this time she can answer.

The human voice is hers, we never hear the voice of her lover. At first she pretends to act normal and calm, but she is always on the verge of exploding in the face of the man’s hypocrisy and meanness. The Human Voice is a moral lesson about desire, even though itsprotagonist is on the verge of the very same abyss. Risk is an essential part of the adventure of living and loving. Pain is very present in the monologue. As I said at first, it is about the disorientation and distress of two living beings who grieve their master.