They're having the Festival of francophone films at the Alliance Française backyard in Nungambakkam. I read that some of the films were laced with humour, and turning up became imminent.

I watched Jean-François Rivard's Noël blank (Best Foreign Short, Los Angeles Film Festival 2003). It started off as a sweet little film about a couple - Denis and Diane (they pronounced them as Den-ee and Dee-aahn), who bring home Denis' father to celebrate Christmas, apparently.

The Alzheimer's afflicted father played by Gilles Pelletier was touching. The emotions in the movie made me sit up. He insists that he only has a daughter Suzanne, and no son. Diane, although a loving wife, looks flustered at having to host the Old man for Christmas.

Everything looks perfect. Denis almost won my heart as the 'Good son'. Until the family exchange presents and the Old man regrets having brought nothing. Denis says that that's why he remembered to collect his Dad's cheque book from the Shelter where he stays. The story went from emotional to downright shocking after that. A figure of 1000 is scrawled onto a cheque leaf and the Old man encouraged to sign it.

It was fiction allright, but the dialogues were brilliant. Especially the line where the truth is revealed, when the son is driving him back. The Old man says 'Its Christmas, but I don't see any snow'. And Denis goes, 'because its August'.

Denis is not his son. He just works at the Shelter and found this novel way to make money. And its not Christmas time. They rob an Old man suffering from Alzheimer's in a sickening way. The daughter Suzanne never calls for her Dad anyway..