Sarah Friedland’s award-winning debut is a dignified portrayal of a woman coping with Alzheimer's disease. A mesmerizing central performance by Kathleen Chalfant anchors a film replete with delicacy.
A stunning, sensory-forward portrait of a woman with dementia adapting to life in an assisted living facility… radical in its quiet honesty, and breathtaking in its dignified compassion.
Familiar Touch 2025
This apparently unassuming, yet beautifully framed debut was a major winner at last year’s Venice Film Festival, scooping the Award for Best Debut Film, as well as directing and performance kudos in the Horizons Competition. Director Sarah Friedland teamed up with her mother, actress Kathleen Chalfant, to passionately portray the hurdles of an octogenarian woman affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Ruth lives alone and seems to be independent. Yet, when her loving son Steve pays her a visit, in an opening scene deceptively staged as a date, we realise that her cognition is failing. As she moves into a care facility, Ruth stubbornly tries to retain control on her life and her mind, leading to hilarious and touching confrontations with her caregivers.
Without ever indulging in easy sentimentality, Friedland delivers a precise minimalist and deeply emotional character study. Chalfant is simply sublime, in a career-defining performance. — Paolo Bertolin