A SONG FOR MARTIN

2001

Although this film by director Bille August is brilliantly acted, photographed and directed, I don't feel comfortable recommending it as "entertainment," because it's also one of the most disturbing and depressing movies of the year. A famous symphonic conductor falls in love with his talented first violinist, and after an idyllic honeymoon (each one has been married before,) he goes back to the business of conducting and composing...and he begins to forget things. So begins the tortuous downward spiral into Alzheimer's. What makes it infinitely more painful to watch, is that the wife is the caregiver from hell, a self-centered, selfish, stupid woman, who doesn't have a clue about how to deal with the disease, and therefore helps to make the fall even more cruel than necessary. We could give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she's in denial, but that's probably not the case. She is just a me-first kind of person, who thinks that she's doing the right thing and for the right reasons. The actors playing the conductor and his wife, are brilliant; they're so good that you forget that they're acting. I actually turned away from the screen a couple of times, out of embarrassment!

5 Stars

NJB