Avant de partir

The doctor Yamina Abbès heads the MAPI, a rest home in Sarcelles accommodating elderly people that are no longer able to live alone. The film follows her daily work: her relationship with the pensioners as she listens, organises and reassures them; the meetings with their families, mainly their children, who feel a certain guilt, and then managing her team. Yamina does not shirk reality, but she adopts a cheerful rather than tragic attitude, infusing life and humour into situations that are close to death. Although the film lucidly portrays the body’s decay and the solitude of the dying, Yamina’s way of looking at things and her frankness help convey a serene picture of old age where small scenes of daily life take on unexpected and curious turns.