Staat van verzorging

The Municipal Social Services in Leiden, 1985. Miss A. Versteegen (65) helps her disabled neighbour Mr. Neutenboom (88) get by financially. They are both hard up, but Neutenboom doesn’t want to end up in a nursing home. One year later, they are still neighbours, but Mr. Neutenboom’s ability to speak has further deteriorated. Their daily life is filmed in cinéma vérité style, with the filmmaker interviewing both people. “It is hard for me, too. After all, I'm not a nurse,” Versteegen acknowledges without complaining. The social worker had told her to look after her neighbour, so that is what she does. She washes him, helps him get into bed and gives him his cough syrup. Inside Neutenboom's dreary home, the agile camera stays up close; outside, in tight frames, we see how Versteegen pushes him around in his wheelchair, when they are on their way to get him a walker, for instance. They remain good-humoured, and burst out laughing when once again they have trouble getting Neutenboom into his easy chair. An intimate portrait of two single senior citizens who are repeatedly forced to find their way through the labyrinth of government agencies, but together, manage to pull it off.