Beyond sorrow, beyond pain

BEYOND SORROW, BEYOND PAIN is a film about five years in the lives of Jean and Agneta following a car accident that in one fell blow changed Jean’s existence. Jean was unconscious for a long time. He suffered sever brain damage and his face was shattered. This led to blindness and to such disturbance of the speech center of the brain that he could neither speak nor understand the spoken word. His right side was also paralyzed. Agneta reports: “I understood that I had to decide how I should behave towards him. If you visit a dying patient in hospital you can either go to help him over to the other side or go to try and grasp his will to live. I knew Jean wanted to live. He has an enormous will to live and I believe he wanted to fight”.The film describes the lives of Agneta and Jean during these years. It is the naked description of a man at a turning point in his life. It is also the story of how Jean recaptures his powers of expression. With the help of the film camera he opens the doors to his inner world where the old landscapes and pictures still remain.