The Last Days of Childhood

Tilda’s father Toni has Parkinson’s. The two of them have been learning to live with his diagnosis for many years. When he is unable to take care of himself anymore and moves into a care home, Tilda too faces new challenges: the established roles they have always played are turned upside down. Instead of being a naïve child, she becomes her father’s closest confidante. He tells her about his strange dreams, and his sense of humour makes her laugh a lot. But it’s not always easy to work out how much of what he says is true – the strong medication Toni is taking does ease his symptoms, but also causes him to hallucinate. It often seems to Tilda that her father is living in a completely different reality, but now and again his familiar, mischievous old self shines through and he is just as she remembers him.

In their last few months and weeks together, Tilda tries to understand how Toni’s illness is affecting his perception and memories, where her father goes on his inner journeys, and how he experiences the world. For both of them, it is a journey into their own past, which is also associated with painful experiences. At the same time, it gives rise to a tender, sensitive and humour-filled relationship between a father and daughter who are saying goodbye to each other at the end of a lifetime.