Made Here Film Festival 2024: Thirty Second Season | Review
Director Charles-Émile LaFrance delicately captures the poignant journey of a man’s resilience and rediscovery of life’s beauty following the loss of his beloved partner in the award-winning short documentary Thirty Second Season.
Since the passing of his wife Alexandra eight years ago—or thirty-two seasons, which feels like an eternity—Normand has been living alone in his apartment in Parc-Extension, Montreal. After thirty-five years of shared life, his world crumbled. He withdrew, hardly ever leaving his home. With delicacy, Charles-Émile LaFrance, a former neighbor, captures him in the intimacy of his dwelling, giving birth to Thirty Second Season (La trente-deuxième saison). The documentary short film won the Canadian Grand Prize at Regard – Saguenay International Short Film Festival in 2023 and was just presented to Vermont audiences at the Made Here Film Festival unfolding in Burlington, from April 10th to 14th, 2024.
In front of the camera of his now-friend and former neighbor, Normand candidly shares what his daily life has become. His wife’s belongings remain untouched, preserved as if he expected her to walk through the door any minute. Her pillow still occupies its place on the marital bed, her body lotion displayed in the bathroom. Through subtle strokes, the film revisits a relationship that filled Normand with happiness. He passionately and nostalgically recalls some memories of his life with his late wife, evident complicity shining through in several photos.
Yet, gradually, his confession in front of the camera leads him to accept small changes. Getting back into sports. Washing the sheets of his bed, untouched for 8 years. Hanging them out in his garden. Putting up a birdhouse and patiently, lovingly calling for the birds to come and feed.
Thirty Second Season is primarily a highly successful direct cinema film. The filmmaker seems to approach Normand without preconceived ideas of what he will discover or the film he intends to make. The result is an organic, spontaneous work, showcasing many strong and touching scenes, paying tribute to the love Normand still holds for Alexandra. The lighting work adds to the delicacy of the filmmaking, particularly respecting Normand’s privacy when he’s naked or partially clothed. Additionally, the film never plunges its now homebound, somewhat disordered, and partially alcohol-reliant character into voyeuristic misery or passes judgment on him. Instead, the strength of the editing constantly balances Normand’s expressions of grief with his moments of joy, humor, and light, revealing a touching and endearing character above all.
Thirty-Second Season is a poetic work on grief and the importance of creating or recreating connections with the outside world. Especially for an isolated individual like Normand, opening up to others, recreating human contact, may perhaps be a way to soothe his pain and accomplish his mourning.
We wish to thank Made Here Film Festival director Orly Yadin for welcoming Film Fest Report as media partner.
