Journey's End

The Auberge des Caps in French-speaking Quebec used to be a motel but now it’s a home for the elderly. Jean-François Caissy's bleak fly-on-the-wall illustration of life in its final stages has no narration and no musical soundtrack. Rather, we’re invited simply to sit and watch as the home’s frail guests sit motionless in chairs, play board games or visit the in-house doctor. Caissy shoots his film in often frustratingly long takes. It’s as if he’s insisting we slow our own lives down in order to empathise with those of the home’s bored, listless, forgotten folk. It’s a commendable subject alright but very hard going.