Synopsis


A man is on the platform of subway. On the arrival of the train and to everyone’s surprise he jumps in front of the train. Miraculously he survives unscathed but is victim of a severe cerebral contusion that wipes his memory and leaves him without speech.

From this apparently insignificant incident an extensive case is opened both investigative and medical to establish the victim identity and also to aid in the recovery treatment.

We learn that the victim is a professional actor and has inherited a house. Sensitive to the worlds disorder he had chosen to commit suicide as a form of political demonstration.

Despite the treatments, the doctors loose hope and decide to transfer him his inherited house in the Pyrenees where he can be better cared for by a specialized therapeutic nurse.

Enters the obnoxiously ambitious girlfriend Sophie that sees in Antoine (the suicidal) a future handicapped and distances herself, deciding that she does not want to share the burden. Also appears here the caretaking nurse to accompany him in his treatment.

As the days go by, setup in Antoine’s house, the nurse goes from one surprise to another. The first is her discovery of a vineyard surrounding the house and that Antoine’s deceased parents produced a small wine of great quality. They were very cultivated and lived an intense life. Through actions, anecdotes, documents and memories from the heart brought down from father to son, the nurse discovers the real Antoine.

As she tries to unveil and understand the characters, objects and their ways of life, the nurse slowly falls under the spell of the wine country and it’s culture.

Though Antoine shows signs of lucidity he will never truly recover his memory. Through study, observation, curiosity, admiration and finally attraction to all that surrounds her, the nurse decides to stay by Antoine’s side.

In a heart throbbing scene, forgetting the outside world, the nurse closes the doors and windows to the house. Shutting themselves and the marvelous wine in, forever.

As time goes by the house weathers… but the vineyard and the garden continue to blossom into grapes, odors and aromas.

REFLEXION

In this story memory is a disguised protagonist. The taste, perfumes, aromas, the tact, gastronomy and the visual pleasure continuously link us back to life.

Determining factors to this story: The transformation of raisins to wine, the vineyard, the roses and the old odors in the house; the spirit of resistance unique to this region of France as well as the secret history of a house never before told.

Antoine is confined to the world of silence. The nurse is the vehicle that transports us into a realm of memory in a period of space and time where even as a pessimist it is our duty to fight, thrive and survive.

The nurse is willing to try anything to bring Antoine’s memory and speech back. The house and the vineyard are a Pandora’s box revealing the truth and it’s surprises.