
Elena loves cooking. She feeds the old lady East European delicacies. Elena has been hired by the lady’s daughter to take care of her. Elena and her good friend Maria work in shifts. The old lady can hardly move and Elena and Maria lift her from her bed into a chair, from the chair onto a plastic chair to take a shower, into a wheelchair to take a walk. They both live in a small apartment in a small village on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

The house is quiet but for the TV set which shows Russian movies from the old lady’s collection. Sometimes they sing or cry together, watching.Elena was born in what used to be the USSR, the old lady was born there too. They speak Russian to her. The old lady tries to speak, but the sounds she makes are not discernible as words, let alone sentences. It’s not clear what she understands. Her ex-husband, who visits every day, is worried. ‘You shouldn’t let her watch detective series on the telly. We can’t tell if she wants to watch those. All that blood,’ he says. Lees verder →