Tothill Posted February 2020
Dementia Portrayed in TV or movies
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There is a television show on CBC in Canada called Coroner. Yes, it is a police, medical drama, but there reason I am mentioning it is that the main character Jenny, the Coroner, is also navigating caring for her father who has Lewy Body Dementia.
The character with dementia is beautifully acted.
I know of the movie Still Alice, but are there any other programs or movies where dementia is a major or minor plot point?
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Its a fairly current film staring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland.
It’s about taking one last road trip in the family motor home before the husbands Alzheimer’s progresses worse than it already is. And, as it is - it’s pretty advanced.
I thought the film was pretty good but a bit far fetched in order to get a few sad laughs. For instance - there is a scene where the hubby drives off leaving his wife at a gas station. The wife chases the motor home from the back of a Harley, having been given a ride from the “heart of gold” biker.
Still the preformaces are good and Mirren was nominated for a Golden Globe.
I really can’t say - regarding the films portrayal of Alzheimer’s. What I saw didn’t reflect my own experiences.
What I suspect is the portrayal of Alzheimer’s is much the same as what I see in films portraying Autism. They get some things right but typically it’s a lot of stereotypes and then tweaking to get a warm fuzzy ending i.e. the child with autism suddenly opens their heart and developes a loving attachment to the leading character. The film Mercury Rising is a good example of this.
Anyhoo - Leisure Seeker is worth a two hour commitment, in my opinion. Much like Hanging Up - with a cast that includes Mirren and Sutherland - how bad can it be?
I use to recommend Hanging Up a lot when I first arrived here on AC.
Hanging Up stars Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, Lisa Kudrow and Walter Matthau - it was the final film of Walter Matthaus stellar career. Cloris Leachman has a small supporting roll. The film was directed by Keaton.
While Matthaus character does suffer from dementia, it’s an almost aside point to the fact that he had always been off-beat and difficult to deal with.
More to the point is the story line that of three adult sisters the caring for their aging father falls exclusively to one sister.
And it is in this fact that I highly recommend this movie for anyone who finds themselves in the same position. It’s not a great movie by any stretch - although with this caliber of cast, how bad can it be? But for those of us who had/have siblings doing nothing beyond directing and critiquing from afar - this movie will certainly hit home.
Although my parents were divorced for many years my mother thought she was having a heart attack when my father died 10 years ago. It turned out to be an anxiety attack. In the last few years my mother has lost all her friends. When she informs me of the latest passing she does it without any emotion. It is hard to know what is going on inside her head.
I believe Ed Asner portrayed the elderly man, as he also did in a Criminal Minds episode in which the Hotch character and a sister (either his or his deceased wife's) realistically portray the challenges of in-home living or in-facility living.
There have also been a few sensitive series episodes, two on JAG and another on Law and Order SVU.
In the former, an elderly Vet is beginning memory decline and is assisted by the Navy JAG, who arranges to find a roommate for him. I thought that was a good option not only b/c the Vet wasn't that far along but b/c Vets can be so much more comfortable with other Vets, especially in trying times.
On the opposite side of the dementia issue, one episode features 3 very active Navy retirees, one who does what I believe was Tai Chi and another who was a former SEAL. I love the way these older men are portrayed as still viable, thinking, analyzing, interacting and (less desirable though) taking legal action to bring down criminals.
Another episode featured an elderly woman being cared for by her son. While she had become nonverbal, she was still able to feel and respond to emotions through facial expressions.
The SVU episode addressed a woman with more advanced memory loss and wander problems. I don't remember the episode well but I think it was the one in which there were questions of her family interaction and potential of abuse.
PBS periodically presents good documentaries, including on how dementia can be benefited from the Dance for Parkinson's Disease applications. Movement therapy and very simple and basic choreography from professional dancers allow people who are nonverbal or with challenged comprehension to respond on a very basic level. I was literally overwhelmed watching some of the participants relaxing and swaying to music.
I think that tv is an excellent medium for presenting the issues surrounding dementia. And it's a good way to address and dispel the myths perpetrated in medicine commercials.
There was an episode of ABC network’s The Good Doctor (the one with Freddie Highmore), that featured a patient with dementia who had just received a cancer diagnosis. Each time the treatment options were brought up, he did not remember he had cancer and it caused him stress each time they had to re-explain it to him. It seemed pretty realistic, the way it was portrayed. It was relatable and heartbreaking to see this patient with dementia and what he was going through. It was definitely worth watching and is thought provoking.