Gaspard Dassonville is one of those indefatigable career junkies who resolutely
refuses to grow old. He may be 63 but he wears his age well and leads
an active life as a television producer. A busy love life also helps
to keep him fit, and he has no difficulty luring women half his age into
bed. With age comes experience, and for an ageing Don Juan this can
be a major asset. Gaspard has to admit that he has never felt better
than he does now. He doesn't feel old, and he has no intention of growing
old. But then, all of a sudden, the illusion that he will remain forever
young is cruelly torn from him when he is confronted with a vision of what
he is to become - in the form of his decrepit old father, Hubert.
Well into his eighties, Hubert has now reached the stage in his life when
he is completely incapable of looking after himself. Gaspard has no
choice but to accommodate the timeworn old man in his home, bringing an immediate
end to his delusions of eternal youthfulness. It's as bad as the Grim
Reaper suddenly turning up on your door step - no, worse. Every day,
Gaspard will be confronted with the thing he is destined to become - a worn-out,
incapable geriatric who is slowly decaying in both body and mind.
The challenge of looking after his cantankerous progenitor turns out to be
beyond Gaspard's modest abilities, so he has no option but to find himself
a professional carer. He strikes lucky - Zana would seem to be the
ideal person for the job. The presence of this attractive young woman
in their house proves to be as welcome to Hubert as it is to his son.
Zana seems to be just what the two men need to repair their damaged relationship
and revive their flagging morale...
In his letters to his friends and family, Franz Kafka gives us a rich self-portrait that is surprisingly upbeat, nor the angst-ridden soul we might expect.
In the 1940s, the shadowy, skewed visual style of 1920s German expressionism was taken up by directors of American thrillers and psychological dramas, creating that distinctive film noir look.