LIFE TO COME (Claudio Capanna, Belgium). 75 minutes. Rating: NNNNN
This intense portrait of a woman who struggles to bond with her prematurely born twins in hospital is intimate and profound.
The atmosphere is relentlessly intimidating as Claudio Capanna‘s camera gets up close to the tiny babies. Monitors beep, nurses discuss the cases, tubes snake out of numerous machines that surround the babies as their mother urges them on.
She has support, a loving husband and an older child (who suffers the inevitable meltdown while paying a visit). But when, after weeks of feeling virtually imprisoned in the institution, she’s forced to remain yet longer, you can tell she’s barely keeping it together. A sequence where the weaker of the two infants looks like she might finally feed will have you at the edge of your seat.
May 1, 6 pm, TIFF 3 May 2, 10:30 am, TIFF 3 May 7, 4:15 pm, Scotiabank 13
