74 min 34 s
Carole Laganière
Absence is a rupture, a loss. But it also implies a quest. In her latest film,
director Carole Laganière (East End Kids) explores various forms
of absence—and its painful impact on our daily lives.
The film was inspired by Laganière’s own personal story, of the
inevitable estrangement of her mother, whose memory is slowly being consumed
by Alzheimer’s disease. This “anticipated separation” serves as a bridge to
the film’s other subjects as they pursue their own personal quests: Ines, an
immigrant who returns to her country of birth, Croatia, to find the mother who
abandoned her; Deni, an American author who is finally able to search for his
Quebec roots; and Nathalie, who is desperately looking for her missing sister.
Through their stories, Absences explores the deepest
regions of the psyche, where our sense of loss and resiliency co-exist.
Subtly weaving its links, the film is like a chain of life built on
loss. It captures the experience of a void that’s waiting to be filled—like an
empty hotel room ready to welcome a tormented life stuck in transit. Through
its many voices, Absences speaks to us of the
immense fragility of human emotions.
