ALPS by Yorgos Lanthimos

I went to watch this movie, by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. The plot looked interesting. Four people form a group to provide support for grieving people that had lost a loved one. The pose as stand-in for the deceased person to help their relatives to heal.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/alps-venice-film-review-231014

As it goes in the movie, this group is formed by a hospital nurse, an ER paramedic, a gymnast and her coach. The nurse and the paramedic have contact with families that lost loved ones, due to the nature of their jobs. They contact the families and collect information about the deceased, their likes and dislikes, the way they dressed, what they did in life, etc. Then they ask the family to choose scenes they would like to recreate with them. For example, a blind widow would like to remember the last day she saw her husband, that she cooked him his favorite meal, a store owner wants to remember moments he spent with his Canadian girlfriend.

The group was in it only for profit. They charged for their services and have strict rules among themselves of what would be allowed. The relationship among them is a bit abusive towards the women. One of them tries to suicide by hanging. She is saved in the last minute by the other woman. I was quite shocked with that scene, for obvious reasons. The other woman is obsessed with her role in the group and it gets out of hand.

It's a harsh movie. I was interested in the idea of the plot, because it sounds like the technique of psychodrama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodrama) and I thought that it would be a plausible thing to exist, but the realization of the movie is not that great.