Dementia — Can One Still Be Loved?

The Chunichi Shimbun Morning Edition – April 14, 2006

Alzheimer’s disease, the most representative form of dementia, is a condition in which the brain gradually shrinks. As it progresses, one may even lose the ability to recognize their own reflection in the mirror. Let us introduce a film that takes up this theme: The Notebook (2004, USA).

An 80-year-old man reads a book aloud to his wife, who has lost her memory. It’s a poignant love story from the distant past.

In the 1940s, a wealthy young woman spending her summer in the American South falls in love with a poor local boy. They discover an abandoned house and dream aloud of living there together. But as the summer ends, so too does their romance. The girl heads off to a university in the East and becomes engaged to a man she meets there.

The young man writes her a letter every day for a year, but due to the interference of the girl’s mother, she never receives them. The young man moves to the city to work, serves in the military, loses a close friend, and returns home disheartened. He begins restoring the old house he once promised her, obsessively, in hopes of fulfilling their dream.

A beautiful story unfolds across time, interweaving a past love affair with the present-day reality of dementia care, all set against a lake where countless migratory birds soar across the skies.

The husband, who keeps reading to fill in the blanks of his wife’s memory, is portrayed by James Garner, an actor also known for his skill in comedy. The elderly wife is superbly acted by Gena Rowlands.

The two characters in this drama first met in the 1940s at a summer resort. At that same time in Japan, young people of their generation were running from incendiary bombs, being sent off to war “for the sake of the nation,” or spending their youth as members of the Women’s Volunteer Corps.

More than sixty years have passed since then. In Japan—now the world's longest-living society—many elderly people suffer from dementia, unable even to recall their harrowing wartime experiences. It is projected that, in twenty years, the number of people with dementia in Japan will exceed three million.

If you were to develop dementia, would there be someone who would love you with all their heart?

For those who feel aging is still a distant issue, or who think of dementia as something unrelated to their lives, this film is a must-watch. Other excellent Japanese films dealing with dementia include Yukie and Ori-Ume.