New Calgary Documentary Explores Late Romance: ‘Love Was What I Found Out’ – Calgary | The Canadian News

You are never too old for romance.

That’s the message of a new Calgary documentary called Love: the last chapter by the director Dominique Keller.

Keller filmed the pre-pandemic movie when he lived in a Calgary senior center for a month.

“I followed three different couples who lived in the residence,” he told Global News on Monday.

“One couple was a long-term romance. They had been married a long time. Another couple, it was a new romance and it was really uncertain, and then another couple is considering taking the next step in their relationship. “

Keller said that the experience of living in a nursing home was amazing.

“I don’t know many people my age who move into a nursing home and live there for a month. I mean, I went with everything, ”he said.

“I ate all of my meals there, played bingo, did a seated aerobics class, and did all of that to be able to make connections and make the connections necessary to tell this really personal and intimate story.”

Love: the last chapter marks Keller’s third story on aging. Its first detailed how its Grandma was the oldest person in Alberta to get her driver’s license.

“While filming with my grandmother, I spent a lot of time with her and her friends, and I was very fascinated by the fact that the hopes and dreams of an 80-year-old are not that different from, say, a 30-year-old, especially when it comes to topics like love, romance and intimacy, ”he said.

“I thought, ‘Wow, isn’t that an interesting story to tell that we don’t often hear?'”

The lesson Keller learned was that as wrinkles begin to form and people move into the golden years of their lives, they let more things go.

“You often lose close friends, lose your career, retire, and when you move into a senior facility, you go from, say, a 1,500 square foot home to just 200 square feet, a lot of your materials and possessions go away. ”, He explained.

“What I really discovered was that when you enter the last chapter of your life, what becomes the most important thing is actually the only thing, really the only thing that matters, and that’s who cares if you wake up in the morning. . ? Who is worried about you? Who do you share your own stories with?

“Love! Love was what I discovered. That’s the most important thing.”

Love: the last chapter will premiere on the opening night of Calgary Underground Film Festival Documentary Festival, held from November 24 to 28.