The Notebook is a 2004 American romantic movie directed by Nick Cassavetes. The film is based on the biographical novel of the same name by Nicholas Sparks, which was published in 1996 and became a bestseller in the first week of its release. The actors performing the roles of the main characters are Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. The movie tells the love story of young people who fell in love in the 20th century. Although the film’s plot develops in the 40s, its action begins and ends at present.
Summary of the Film
In the 40s, a young girl Allie Hamilton comes to Seabrook, North Carolina, to spend the summer with her family. There she meets a young man Noah Calhoun. She comes from a wealthy family, and he is an ordinary factory worker; however, a real feeling flares up. The outbreak of the Second World War and the will of chance separate the lovers. After the end of the war, they reunite; consequently, Allie returns to Noah, they get married, and she gives birth to three children.
Decades later, another part of the story shows an older man paying regular visits to a woman in a nursing home, reading aloud to her a story from a notebook. Although her memory has faded, she becomes fascinated by the story of Allie and Noah. Duke, the older man who turns out to be Noah Calhoun, takes care of Allie, whose current diagnosis is Alzheimer’s. Upon learning about the disease, Allie decides to write down her life and love in a notebook. Dementia begins to progress, and Duke reads these notes aloud to her. Day after day, she drifts away from reality, but he keeps reading. In rare moments of enlightenment, she manages to revive in her mind a time, when they swore to each other in eternal love. In general, doctors say that this is impossible, but Allie does it thanks to Duke, albeit for a few minutes.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Its Impact on Family Members
The memory phenomenon is fascinating; as people get older, especially entering the last stage of life, awareness of the past becomes everything, being practically all that they have left for older adults. Therefore, for people with Alzheimer’s disease, it concerns their loss of the ability to hold moments in mind and losing one of the most valuable elements of life. The early stage often goes unnoticed; both relatives of the patient and specialists incorrectly attribute the symptoms of the disease to old age, considering them a normal part of the aging process (Blieszner & Shifflett, 1990). Since the early onset of the disease occurs gradually, it might become complex to detect when the disease has begun to develop.
Due to this disease’s unique nature, it leads to severe physical, moral, and economic stress on all family members of the patient. The loved ones of a person with dementia often feel desperate, fearful, angry, and powerless due to the onset of disease symptoms (Blieszner & Shifflett, 1990). Concerning the later stages, the difficulties that close relatives of the sick person face gradually increase. The spouse or close relative usually takes responsibility for the patient’s primary care, thereby taking on a heavy burden since it requires physical activity, financial costs, affects the social side of life, and is psychologically stressful (Gallagher-Thompson et al., 2001). The caregivers experience moral challenges as they see the deterioration of the condition of the person they love.
Moreover, there is a high level of somatic diseases and mental disorders among those caring for a patient. If they live under the same roof with the patient, if he or she is a spouse, if the patient becomes depressed, misbehaves, hallucinates, suffers from sleep disorders, and is unable to move frequently – all these factors, according to studies, are associated with increased the number of psychosocial problems (Blieszner & Shifflett, 1990). Caregivers’ psychological health can be enhanced with cognitive behavioral therapy and training in coping strategies, both individually and in groups. The caregiver also has to spend an average of 47 hours per week with the patient, often at the expense of working hours, and the costs of care are high (Gallagher-Thompson et al., 2001). An essential step in adjusting family members and those around the person with Alzheimer’s to their condition is to develop skills to communicate with them, showing respect and sensitivity without embarrassing them. Both patients and relatives generally prefer home care; it is possible to postpone or avoid more professional and expensive care.
The Message of the Film
Neither Alzheimer’s nor dementia is well understood, so there is no medical treatment for them. A person with this disease cannot remember to take the keys to an apartment; he or she forgets the way home. These people do not recollect their friends’ names and faces; at later stages, they might stop recognizing children and consider strangers to be relatives. A person may not remember current events, forgets what happened yesterday, but retains the old past well in the Alzheimer’s early stages. Besides, the patient becomes increasingly dependent on his or her caregivers.
It is crucial to remember that although there is a change to personality, the personality itself remains. In this case, the care of relatives, close people becomes essential. The movie’s message emphasizes the fact that only love, compassion, and patience could bring some decisive moments for a person experiencing Alzheimer’s and the people surrounding them. The suffering person is in a state where time has stopped, and life continues; they are scared and need support. Very often, people do not understand their relatives with dementia, labeling them as “others.” Most frequently, this is due to the inability to communicate appropriately.
The movie shows how love and relationships can help a person with Alzheimer’s disease and reveals caregiving’s problem to loved people, suffering, and starting losing memory. Relatives of patients are mostly left alone with the disease issues; many of them would benefit from a psychologist’s help. In the film, there is a scene, when in between reading the story, the children of Allie and Noah visit them and ask the latter to return home, to which he replies that he will never leave their mother (Cassavetes, 2004). Caring for a relative with dementia on an ongoing basis is an emotional and financial burden on a family. People solve caregiving problems in different ways, but experts assure that there is nothing better than a family home and the presence of close family members.
In cases where medicine is powerless, the patient’s relatives can keep in touch with the person, taking into account this or her biography, understanding how the past affects the current state, and the development of the disease. It is useful to organize a space and a favorable atmosphere for the patient, such as equipping the room with his or her favorite furniture, arranging old photographs, turn on the music of youth and, most importantly, continue to love and express these feelings.
References
Blieszner, R., & Shifflett, P. A. (1990). The effects of Alzheimer’s disease on close relationships between patients and caregivers. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 39(1), 57-62.
Cassavetes, N. (2004). The Notebook [Film]. Gran Via.
Gallagher-Thompson, D., Dal Canto, P. G., Jacob, T., & Thompson, L. W. (2001). A comparison of marital interaction patterns between couples in which the husband does or does not have Alzheimer’s disease. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 56(3), 140-150.