By Louise
Link: https://originaltheatreonline.com/productions/3/watching-rosie
– you will need to register for an account in order to watch the film but it is
free.
Available until: 30th September 2020.
Watching Rosie is the story of a young lady called
Rosie and her grandmother, Alice, who suffers from dementia. The title refers
to the fact that when Rosie video-calls Alice, Alice feels that she is watching
her granddaughter on the television. It’s a short film written by Louise
Coulthard and directed by Michael Fentiman to help draw people’s attention to
the many people in the UK who are suffering from dementia and separated from
their families due to the pandemic and to encourage us to donate to Dementia
UK.
I think it is a lovely film. Very sweet and very moving. It’s a little bit sad, of course, but there is a lot of happiness and love and kindness in the story too. Miriam Margolyes is really charming as Alice. She is sometimes confused, frightened and sad. She struggles to make sense of the new world where she can’t see her granddaughter in person and can’t go out and can’t always remember what the rules are and why they are in place. But she loves Rosie and although she embarrasses her when a handsome delivery man visits, her motivation is very clear. Alice wants people to be happy. When Alice displays signs of her dementia, Miriam Margolyes’ performance is very sensitive and very realistic. She doesn’t overdo it. It made me sad to watch her, but I also admired Alice very much for coping as well as she does and for her kindness to others.
Writer Louise Coulthard herself plays Rosie and I really
liked her. She was patient and kind towards Alice and said things as often as
they needed to be said, but she wasn’t patronising. It was clear that it was a
very emotional situation for her to see her grandmother suffering from dementia,
particularly when she couldn’t visit her, but I think Rosie also genuinely
enjoyed talking to Alice. But Rosie wasn’t a saint and I liked that too. When
she was annoyed or embarrassed, she didn’t hide that. She didn’t go beyond a
certain point and she certainly didn’t upset Alice, but she didn’t feel she had
to pretend all the time. She treated Alice like a real person, which is exactly
what she is. In some ways, at some times, she is exactly the person she has
always been.
I liked Amit Shah as the delivery man too. He was kind,
patient and polite, and ended up enjoying himself. Like many people, I think he
might have understandably been a little bit frightened at first as he wasn’t
sure what to make of Alice, but then he saw what Rosie saw – that Alice is a
kind, friendly woman who wants to help.
It was a really lovely film and I liked it very much. I feel
guilty for making what might be seen as a criticism. But while everything the
video showed us about dementia was very good, very believable and
sensitively-portrayed, it didn’t tell the whole story. Dementia can be
significantly more severe and many people will be struggling even more than
Alice. My great-grandad had dementia and he needed a lot of help towards the
end of his life. He couldn’t use a computer and he certainly couldn’t have
walked around the house carrying a device, as Alice does. He wouldn’t have been
able to make any kind of video call. He actually always seemed to recognise me,
which meant a lot to me because I knew I was very lucky, but he forgot my name
and didn’t recognise some other members of our family. I think if he was alive
now, he would have been in a bubble with my granny and grandad so in some ways,
he wouldn’t have been as isolated as Alice. But I’m not sure how well he would
have understood lockdown, even when it was explained to him.
Watching Rosie was a wonderful film and I love all
the happiness and positivity and I can understand if they didn’t want to create
a film that was very sad, I think it could have shown even more about the severity
of dementia and the importance of the work charities like Dementia UK do.
I wonder if Original Theatre would consider a sequel. I
would definitely watch it, even though it might be very sad, because I know it
would be very good.
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