''A Woman Like Me'' is a 2015
documentary directed by Elizabeth Giamatti and Alex Sichel. It runs parallel to the real-life story of Sichel, who was diagnosed with
terminal cancer
Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced ...
in 2011. The fictional story of Anna Seashell, played by Lili Taylor, is of a woman who is given the same diagnosis. The documentary follows Alex as she uses narrative film to show her journey through terminal illness as it surrounds her and her families life.
Synopsis
''A Woman Like Me'' is a documentary about co-director Alex Sichel's navigation through having terminal breast cancer and how it has inspired her to try and embrace death as mentioned in
Buddhist philosophy
Buddhist philosophy refers to the philosophical investigations and systems of inquiry that developed among various schools of Buddhism in India following the parinirvana of The Buddha and later spread throughout Asia. The Buddhist path combi ...
. The film is composed of
home video
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
s, one on one sit downs with Alex's family; husband, parents, sisters, doctors, and healers. Although a documentary, half of the movie shows Alex's current film project about Anna, a woman with the same diagnosis as Alex except she looks at the glass as half full. The film within the film recounts private conversations between Alex and her husband, Alex's dreams, and the alter-self, Anna, who is moving forward to face her fear of death. Sichel believes that making a movie about herself living with breast cancer can help her heal and accept what is happening to her.
The documentary side of the film shows Alex's doctor visits, the types of medications she is taking, and the alternative medicine healing practices she does with healers and shamans. Alex's family, although glad Alex is taking medicine from the "real" doctors, believe healers and the Buddhist philosophy of "going joyfully towards death" are not helpful and is just "magical thinking". Alex later learns that the tumor has grown larger so, she takes the opportunity to go to Greece and learn more about her family's history. The last scene of the film shows that Alex has lived another winter and is once again at the Buddhist silent retreat that she attends yearly. She mentions how her daughter's birthday is coming up so she needs to look forward with positive thoughts.
Film festivals
* South by Southwest Film Festival on March 16, 2015
* Denver Film Festival on November 12, 2015
* San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival on June 20, 2015
Awards
SXSW's Special Jury Prize for Directing
References
External links
*
Self-reflexive films
Documentary films about cancer
2015 films
2015 documentary films
Documentary films about Buddhism
2010s English-language films
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