As a filmmaker and happily married man Alain Cavalier leads an unremarkable life for the most part. However, it is the little moments that one experiences life and deals with injury and death that the true tale of humanity lies. In this respect, Cavalier has produced a remarkable snapshot that is at times intimate and others extremely impersonal.
The past decade (1994-2005) that is covered in the film starts with the director and his wife filming a gorgeous sunset on a beach. As the years past Cavalier becomes enamored of catching his wife 'Francoise' asleep only to capture her rude awakenings. He also coaxes her to bare her nude body for the camera which may seem perverse, but later it's learned her wonderful breasts could possibly fall victim to a mastectomy and his film is preserving the memory of her anatomy.
Similarly, episodes involving his father and mother precede their eventual deaths each in succession. Then Cavalier himself is struck with skin cancer around his nasal area which allows him to candidly reveal this painful experience which forces him to get reconstructive surgery.
This is case where the filmmaker is not only the observer, but the subject and in many cases he uses the camera as his confessor. Not for all tastes, but if you have a streak of humanism within you then this is one human being you will want to acquaint yourself with. His wife is a delight too!
