Raphaël Balboni and Ann Sirot's Une vie démente | Madly in Life (2021)

Under the circumstances, in many respects this is a strangely amusing film. Noémie (Lucie Debay) and her husband Alex (Jean Le Peltier) have decided to have a child, and are obviously anxious to ensure that all goes well. However, the odd behaviour of Alex's mother Suzanne (Jo Desure) will put the event on hold for a while, and cause a large amount of trouble, pain and general frustration for them.

The first thing Noémie and Alex notice is that when Suzanne comes to visit them she parks in the space allocated to the handicapped: nothing much to cause a fuss about there. Then when they're preparing a family meal in the kitchen and Alex asks his mother to pass the colander she ignores him: again, there doesn't seem to be any great cause for concern. But then when Alex notes that his mother, quite casually, steals a cigarette lighter from a shop, things begin to get worrying. Next, Suzanne has trouble with her credit cards when a terminal in another shop registers that she has no funds, which she 'knows' to be untrue. It's only when Alex sees what a mess she's making of her accounts, and – much more seriously – that she falsely declared herself retired two years before, although she's been working and collecting a five-figure sum under false pretences, that Alex realises that she has a real problem.

The diagnosis is the onset of Alzheimer's, and when Alex sees that she's switched off her fridge and left rotting food in it, he recognises that she'll have a home help. After a few interviews, this is found in the shape of the very knowledgeable and affable Kevin (Gills Remiche).

Meanwhile, any movement on the baby front has to be postponed, in fact left to vegetate: we see Alex and Noémie in bed with computer and a book, both with the same green, floral patern which matches the sheets, pillows, curtains, lampshade, etc. It is, of course, an image of madness, but it can only get worse because Suzanne's illness is degenerative.

In addition to this problem, Suzanne is hyperactive, makes a great deal of noise, at one point enters a stranger's house and begins having a meal at the kitchen table until she's discovered by the nonplussed occupants, so Kevin has to work hard to keep her under a kind of house arrest without actually making a prisoner of her.

Anti-psychotic drugs have the effect of turning her into a cabbage until the dosage is reduced and she regains some semblance of normality. And we finally see her in a role reversal: as she sits at a table on the lawn next to her son's baby, Noémie feeds it while Alex feeds his mother. Crazy this film certainly is, although this tragi-comedy strikes a healthy balance by treating a serious terminal illness in a mature way.