DEMENTIA IN SOCIETY
Dementia in the arts: An interview with “Romy’s Salon” director Mischa Kamp
Tamara wanted the grandmother to still be working and to be in a sociable environment. A woman still in the middle of an active, vivid life. It was important to show in the film that the grandmother was losing her memory bit by bit. She was slowly losing her grip. The other good thing about a hairdressing salon is that Romy could easily come by after school and stay upstairs in her grandmother’s house. It is good when a film can show the main characters getting closer to each other and Alzheimer’s and this was the inspiration becoming more involved in each other’s lives behind the story. Although, of course, the in an easy, natural way. Part of Tamara’s inspicharacter in this film, Romy, is much younger. ration for the setting had come from her own neighbourhood memories, where a child used Even up to 10 years ago, there were no fam- to go to her grandmother’s after school, who ily films about this subject. It is so important ran a hairdressing salon. for young people today, to understand a little more, especially since this disease is becom- How were you able to make Stine (the ing more and more common. grandmother)’s character, played by Beppie Melissen, so believable? Did you and For me, the interest was not family related. screenwriter Tamara Bos research AlzheimRather, the way Tamara described the dynamic er’s dementia and how it can affect different relationship between Romy and her grand- people, to help achieve this result? mother, really got my attention. It was very original and therefore an interesting way to We read a lot about Alzheimer’s disease and talk about dementia. saw a lot of documentaries, which was very
Dutch film director Mischa Kamp spoke to Alzheimer Europe about her award-winning movie “Romy’s Salon”, which looks at the changing relationship between hair salon owner Stine and her granddaughter, Romy, as Stine’s dementia progresses. What made you decide to direct the movie “Romy’s Salon”? Is the subject-matter particularly close to your heart? The scriptwriter, Tamara Bos, told me about her idea for this film about 10 years ago. We had just finished shooting “Winky’s Horse”, a film about a Chinese girl who emigrates to the Netherlands and who hears about “Sinterklaas” (Santa Claus) for the first time. It was a big success in our country. Tamara’s idea was to tell the story of a young girl and her grandmother, who is coping with Alzheimer’s disease. When Tamara was 19 years old, her own grandmother had
Romy doing her grandmother’s hair
36 Dementia in Europe
The story takes place in a hair salon; a place everyone can relate to and where people often speak quite openly and honestly. Is that why this particular location was chosen for Tamara Bos’ story to unfold, or was there another reason?
