Journey's End

In a corner of Quebec countryside, between a major road and a headland overlooking the sea, sits L’Auberge des Caps, an abandoned motel which has been converted into a home for the elderly. Its inhabitants follow their regular routines. We see them at prayer, playing bingo, checking their blood pressure and getting their hair done. They speak to relatives on the phone, play the piano, fill out crosswords and listen to the radio. One man walks slowly around the building. There is the sense that, like the travelers who would have stayed in these rooms when it was a motel, these men and women are waiting to move on. Unlike those travelers, you fear they won’t have the opportunity to come back this way again. Filmed over five seasons, Jean-François Caissy’s allegorical documentary portrait of the home and its residents is remarkably patient and unfussy in its presentation. The film has no interviews, narration or background music, no lead characters or star turns. There is no information about the lives these people have led. They are real characters with whom viewers can identify, and there are many moments of droll humour and beauty here, beyond the resonant poignancy. –BFI