Synopsis
Fifteen years ago Nikola left Serbia to follow his heart to Switzerland. Since then his life is shared between two countries and three women: his mother Dida, his grandmother and his wife. His mother has learning disabilities and has been dependent on the grandmother since ever. As grandmother is getting older, Belgrade is now calling Nikola back home. A heartwarming and amusing documentary about a son who’s trying to step into grandmother shoes.
A word from Tënk
More than 1,000 kilometers separate an only son from his mother. A distance that the Swiss-Serbian filmmaking couple of Corina and Nikola travel with great self-sacrifice to take care of Dida, the latter's mother, who has been incapacitated by a childhood disease. This tale of parental guilt, despondency and illness could have turned into a painful sacrificial tale. This was without considering the colorful personality of Dida who, among other things, prefers to collect trinkets from the Chinese store than to fill her refrigerator, and who steals flowers from the dead at the cemetery, to the great displeasure of his pious neighbors. Not without a good dose of humor, we witness the reunion of a son who has become an adult and his mother who remained a child, whom he rediscovers thanks to a curious autonomy recovered. For Dida takes flight as the film progresses, patiently accompanied by Nikola and Corina, who play the role of substitute parents here. As this role reversal is likely to happen to all of us sooner or later, let's arm ourselves with as much patience as tenderness and humor as these two!
Naomie Décarie-Daigneault
Tënk's Artistic Director
