This Was Your Nicest Auntie Ria

She’s not stupid, she gets what’s going on—Ria tells her niece Anneke that she knows she's “heading towards dementia.” That’s why she hangs up notes to remind herself that Anneke has just been to New York and they can chat about that. “Terrible, isn't it? I think I’ll have another glass of wine.”

Anneke follows her strong-willed aunt in the seven years leading up to her death. Ria may be losing her memory, but not her sense of humor. When Anneke isn’t visiting, Ria keeps her up-to-date with voicemails and phone calls—her voice becoming increasingly hesitant. The technological innovations that are supposed to be making life easier in her small apartment overlooking Amsterdam’s Vondelpark only make her confusion worse.

While the seasons glide by on the other side of the window, Ria swings back and forth between denial and cheerful resignation. Although she is generally grateful to her carers, she sometimes starts arguments in frustration about her increasing dependence. But this loving film is never weighed down by her approaching end, in a bittersweet and realistic impression of the last years of a life.