A brother and sister face the traumas of middle age while their mother loses her battle with Alzheimer's in this comedy-drama from France. Simon (Charles Berling) is a writer in his mid-forties who is getting his life back on track after a divorce; he's also looking after his teenage daughter (Anais Demoustier) who is too clever for her own good as well as his elderly mother Frida (Shulamit Adar) who is living with Alzheimer's disease. Frida has began wandering out of her house in search of her husband, who died several years before, and one day she appears at the door of Manou (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who lives in a flat that Frida and her mate once called home. Simon comes by to bring his mother home; he and Manou quickly hit it off, and he finds himself beginning a new romance in the once shabby apartment where he grew up. Simon's sister Judith (Miou-Miou) is also having to keep en eye on Frida while wondering what to do with her own life. Like Simon, Judith is divorced, and her two children are grown and living on their own; she's suffering from a severe case of Empty Nest Syndrome, and wants a man in her life again. Judith's loneliness leads her into an affair with a man she dated when she was a teenager, but she can't fool herself into believing the relationship has a future. Les Murs Porteurs (aka Cycles) was the first feature film from writer and director Cyril Gelblat.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
