Michel, acteur verliest de woorden

Michel van Dousselaere (Ghent, 1948 - Amsterdam, 2021) was a Flemish actor who played almost 60 roles during his career. That career came to a halt when in 2014 he was diagnosed with a rare form of progressive aphasia, FTD, a brain disorder that affects the speech centre. In this documentary, filmmakers Irma Wijsman and Patrick Minks show how Van Dousselaere copes with the loss of his words, and with it the profession he has practised for so long. Together with his wife Irma Wijsman, he searches for new ways to express himself, to stay sharp and to bid an impressive farewell to his life as an actor.

Wijsman and Minks also mainly show how language defines our identity and what it means to have to rediscover yourself. The result is a moving film about two powerful people who take charge of a dramatic turn in their lives with love, sadness and humour.