HEAL THE LIVING/ REPARER LES VIVANTS
France, 2016, 13 minutes, Colour.
Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval, Bouli Lanners, Finnegan Oldfield, Theo Cholbi.
Directed by Katell Quillevere.
Heal the Living might seem a superfluous kind of title – who else can be healed except the living? But the very serious point being made is that the dead can be instrumental in healing the living.
There are two stories in this film connected by a young man, a surfer, who has gone out one early morning with friends to surf, drives back home but is involved in a car accident. The first part of the film is his story, life and death, especially the effect of the news of his sudden death on his parents. As they grieve, the father blames himself for introducing his son to surfing, the mother grieves powerfully as a mother.
The second part of the film focuses on an older woman with heart disease, a woman of culture and music, with two sons, facing the prospect of dying.
One might say that this is a film of “heart spirituality�, that a heart which has enlivened the young man still has the power to enliven the older woman.
It might seem obvious that a heart transplant can heal the living – but, the decision for the transplant and organ donation weighs very heavily on the parents, listening to the urgings of the young doctor and his enthusiasm, the father angry, the mother still grieving, and their finding a way to give consent.
For audiences who have some connection with illness and organ transplants, this may seem quite obvious. On the other hand, many in the audience do not have a direct link with death or have it only rarely. Organ transplants are not at the forefront of their consciousness. This film doesn’t pull its punches when visualising the excision of the heart, the physicality of the surgery, the urgency of the transport from hospital to second hospital, by car, by air, the need for haste, for – ice-cooling the the container to carry the organ to be transplanted.
With the shift in age and gender, the second part of the film focuses on Claire, older and having lived a lot her life, and her having the potential for living with the gift of the transplant and its suitability for becoming part of her.
The film shows two facets of contemporary French life, allows us to spend a lot of time with the characters, with families who have problems – and, somewhat to the fore, includes story issues of same-sex relationships.
Heal the Living makes demands on the emotions of the audience, identification with characters, with situations – but also makes demands on intellectual understanding of the reality of organ donation, the repercussions for the body of the dead person, of the responses by close family and their making decisions as well as anonymity and living with a life-giving organ from another person.
1. A film about death, life? Organ transplants and hope?
2. The title, with reference to the dead young man, his parents, the mother and her heart condition, her sons, friends?
3. The opening, Normandy coast, the beach and waves? The road, accidents? Ambulances? Hospitals, offices, surgery? Contrast with the world of Claire, apartments, concert, doctors, hospitals, surgery?
4. The focus on the surgery, clinical and focused, the excision of the heart, its being transported, the plane, the carriers, the urgency? The transplant surgery? Tensions? Skills?
5. The story of the young man, with his girlfriend, leaving early morning, skateboard, his friends on their bicycles, the van? The surfing, the exhilaration? The sequences of the waves, underwater, the turmoil? Driving back, sleepy, driver and his hallucination of the waves? The crash?
6. Simon, brain-dead, organs functioning well? The doctor and the treatment, the nurses? Talking to him as if he were alive? The doctor reprimanding this, especially for doing this and the grief to parents?
7. The phone call, the daughter, getting up, going to the hospital, the shock of the news, the grief? Contacting her husband? The doctor and his explanations, sympathetic, factual? Husband and his reaction, blaming himself for introducing Simon to surfing? The interview with the young doctor, organ transplant? The father blaming him and walking out? The drive to the factory, the father working? The scene of the drive back, the giving their consent, the young doctor promising to respect their wishes and the body of Simon?
8. The transition to Claire, with her sons, her heart condition, moving closer to hospital, the interviews with the doctor, the possibility of a transplant? With her sons, Maxime and his devotion, Sam at his not telling his mother about dropping out of college? The meal, watching ET?
9. Claire, going to the concert, lifted up the stairs, Jeanne and her playing, the past, the relationship, the intimate talk, going home, the intimacy again, the caution about emotion, discussion with the Sam was gay?
10. Going to hospital, Maxime his attention, concern of the doctor, Claire wanting to see Sam, his being held up by the weather? Her going into surgery, the washing, her preparation?
11. The surgery on Simon, the detail of the removal of is heart, staff and skills, transfer to the container, the ice, preservation, the airport and the plane, bringing it the surgery theatre. The successful surgery, Claire?
12. The final image of the parents of Simon accepting the reality? Of Claire smiling?
