Development - ENGLISH - Drama - 90 minutes
When Elizabeth Whitman is hired by aristocratic Mrs Blackwell, to nurse her returned soldier husband and help recover the memories of their old life together, she discovers that man has gone forever, and her encounter with a man with no past will change all of their futures.
Year of production : 2020 Director(s) : Katie WOLFE Writer(s) : Carl NIXON
It is 1919. Elizabeth Whitman works as a nurse in the local hospital treating returned servicemen. She receives a telegram informing her that her husband has been killed in the last days of the war and falls into a state of despair. Elizabeth is asked to tend a returned soldier, the once aristocratic Paul Blackwell, at his family’s large mansion. Paul’s head injury has reduced him to an animal-like state with no memory of anything that happened before he regained consciousness on the battlefield. Mrs Blackwell, the soldier’s wife, wants her husband and her old life back, but her attempts to jog his memory are met with hostility. From his perspective, Paul was quite literally born into war; the only identity he acknowledges is the name bestowed upon him by his rescuers and his medical attendants: Lucky. Elizabeth is unsure of inviting such change into her life. But something about the case prompts her to help on a trial basis. In her role as his nurse, Elizabeth succeeds in striking up a rapport with Lucky, and although she thinks it is impossible to restore his memory, she believes she can help him make progress in building a new life. While Mrs Blackwell mourns a husband who is lost to her, Elizabeth, having no knowledge of the man he was before, is intrigued with the man he is now. She shares with him her stories about her dead husband. Her stories help to shape who he becomes. But Mrs Blackwell fears the growing bond between her husband and Elizabeth. She has a doctor declare his memory loss to be a symptom of schizophrenia and he’s committed to Sunnyside Mental Hospital for barbaric “treatment”. Now the only person who can rescue Lucky is Elizabeth – and she must finish her story… in more ways than one.
Country(ies) : NEW ZEALAND