We know that carers are time-poor. But regardless of how busy we are, we all need to unplug and throw a film on now and then (even if it’s playing in the background while doing chores or performing a less-intensive caring act).

Here are a few films about carers we’d reccommend when you want to feel less alone and connect with a story that might be similar to your own.

Unconditional

• Directed by carer Dalanglin Dkhar
• This documentary follows four incredible carer stories, all set in the ACT.
• “What we do is spectacular and corageous, and to keep going.”

Still Alice

• Directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland
• Alice (Julianne Moore) is a renowned linguistics professor, happily married with three grown children. All that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words, and then more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease, Alice and her family’s lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.
• “I used to be someone who knew a lot. No one asks for my opinion or advice anymore. I miss that. I used to be curious and independent and confident. I miss being sure of things.”

Breathe

• Directed by Andy Serkis
• When Robin (Andrew Garfield) is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he’s confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana’s (Claire Foy’s) twin brothers (Tom Hollander) and the groundbreaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek out a full and passionate life together, raising their young son, travelling, and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients.
• “This chair pushing business. Is is hard to do over long distances?” // “Well, it’s harder than a pram, I can tell you.”

Me Before You

• Directed by Thea Sharrock
• Lou (Emilia Clarke) knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in a tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfrien. What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane. Will (Sam Claflin) knows a road accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change each other for all time.
• “I know we can do this. I know it’s not how you would have chosen it, but I know I can make you happy. And all I can say in that you make me … you make me into someone I couldn’t even imagine. You make me happy, even when you’re awful.”

Mickey and the Bear

• Directed by Annabelle Attanasio
• Faced with the responsibility of taking care of her addict, veteran father, headstrong teen Mickey (Camilia Morrone) keeps her household afloat. When she has the opportunity to leave for good, she must choose between familial obligation and personal fulfillment.
• “This is too much for a kid.” // “Yeah, well, he’s my dad.”

Please Stand By

• Directed by Ben Lewin
• The world is a confusing place for Wendy (Dakota Fanning), a fiercely independent and brilliant young woman with autism. Wendy longs to leave her group home and return to living with her sister’s family and new baby girl. She’s sure that in order to reunite with her family, all she needs to do is convince them of her newfound competence and abilities. As a lover of all things Star Trek, Wendy writes in her free time; so when she hears about a Star Trek writing competition, she seizes the opportunity to submit her 500-page script and prove her worth. However, her only problem: if she doesn’t hand in her 500-page script to Paramount Pictures in person, she’ll miss the deadline. Wendy sneaks out of her group home and travels hundreds of miles outside her protective boundaries and refuses to allow anything to stop her from achieving her goals.
• “Light. It can travel for millions of years before finally reaching its destination. It goes lonely and alone, hoping that it will reach someone. But what if it never arrives? What if it never finds a home? Because space is so vast, and time is so long, and out here, it’s so easy… to get lost.”

The Theory of Everything

• Directed by James Marsh
• This is the story of the most celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmaybe), and Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), the arts student he fell in love with while studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Little was expected from Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, after he was given just two years to live following the diagnosis of a fatal illness (ALS) at 21. He became galvanized, however, by love. Over the course of their marriage, however, as Stephen’s body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the resolve of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives.
• “I know what you all think, that … that I don’t look like a terribly strong person. But I love him. And he loves me. We’re going to fight this illness together. All of us.”

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

• Directed by Julian Schnabel
• 43-yo Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique (Mathieu Amalric) awakens, not knowing where he is, in hospital, where he has been for the past several weeks in a coma. He’s sufferied a massive stroke. Although his cognitive facilities are intact, he learns that he has what is called “locked-in syndrome”, which has resulted in him being almost completely paralysed, including not being able to speak. A carer teaches him to communicate using a system where he spells out words. He learns to communicate effectively, but slowly, using this method.
• “Hold fast to the human inside of you, and you’ll survive.”

 

Please send us your favourite carer films so we can ensure this list encompasses everyone’s must-watch features.