by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
In this French drama, the limitations of the medical system are exposed. Lila Kedrova plays a mature woman of Russian origin who is stricken with cancer ("rak" in Russian). She wants to live, and in order to do so she must fight the inertia and indifference of the specialists and bureaucrats she encounters. The doctors seem unable to treat her as anything other than an assembly of unconnected organs. She is greatly assisted in her survival quest by the loving assistance of her son (Sami Frey).
characteristics
- Physician
- Nurse
- Mother
- RN
- Son
- Terminal-illness
- Survivor
- Survival
- Medical-system
- MD
- Child
- Cancer
- Bureaucrat
- Doctor
- Family
