The Time of Their Lives
Synopsis
At 101, Rose is a former journalist, sex-therapist and counsellor and now the oldest newspaper columnist in the world. Hetty, 102, is a veteran Stop-the-War campaigner, just about to embark on her 84th peace march; and Alison, 87, is a novelist and self-styled ‘establishment lady’ who was once a committed member of the Communist Party.
Hetty, Rose and Alison are three of the oldest residents of the Mary Feilding Guild, a home for the ‘active elderly’, and regularly share their impassioned concerns on everything from terrorism to global warming, the rise of fundamentalism, and the decline of the media – not to mention the meaning of life, death and existence. But despite their unstoppable enthusiasm, humour and passion, all three women are not simply ready for death – they actively want to die.
At the end of lives lived with passion and purpose, Hetty, Rose and Alison are facing the painful reality of physical, sometimes mental, deterioration and its consequences for their sense of identity and worth. In the singular community of the Mary Feilding Guild, they bring to the screen a rare perspective on old age. They are first-hand witnesses who have gone ahead and report back to us from the edge of their own mortality. They can tell us things of which no-one ever speaks.
Details
- Year
- 2009
- Type of film
- Features
- Running Time
- 58 mins
- Format
- DigiBeta
- Director
- Jocelyn Cammack 1st Feature
- Producer
- Nick Fraser, Jo Lapping, Clare Patterson, Jocelyn Cammack
- Co-Producer
- Nick Fraser, Jo Lapping, Clare Patterson, Jocelyn Cammack
- Editor
- Fred Hart
- Sound
- John Avery
- Music
- John Avery
- Principal Cast
- Hetty Bower, Rose Hacker, Alison Selford, Marian Fagan, Miriam Isherwood, Barbara Lawrence, Lesley Delaney
- Camera
- Michael O' Halloran, Alistair Cameron, Hugo Glendinning, Jocelyn Cammack
Genre
Production status
Complete
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Last updated 27th November 2008
