First time in senior cinema

2084662654_b1d38ba1a5_bThree 60-70 year old women started collecting their things at the next table. My mobile phone showed that the movie would start in five minutes. I rushed to finish my coffee and the chocolate bar that had been included in the ticket price of 12 dollars. Like so many other movie theaters this one offers a special inexpensive showing of new movies for senior citizens every Friday at 1:30 pm. 

Never before did I have time to go to movies showing in the early afternoon. But now I was taking care of my brother-in-laws’ dog in Hillerød while he was travelling. A couple of friends had been talking about the movie “The book club” as a must-see for all elderly women. 

Just before 1:30 the ticket controller scanned my ticket and I walked in through a short corridor with two doors on the right. The first was closed and the second open. Instinctively I chose the open door and went into a dark room. The big screen with changing pictures gave enough light for me to see five heads in the middle row that divided the room into a lower and upper section. 

I sat down and saw that the movie had already started.

“Weird”, I thought. Maybe they believe it is not worth showing any trailers or ads to elderly people, because they don’t buy so many things anymore. Or we might not remember what we have seen. And anyhow we were only six persons.

On the screen, I saw scenes where four women prepared to take off to a book club meeting. There was something upsetting with the various departure scenes. The women were not in harmony with themselves. The movie did not excel at creativity: women drinking wine in the middle of the day at a book club meeting, while hardly talking anything about the book at hand.  Suddenly at 1:55 the texts with names of the contributors rolled over the screen.

“Interesting. Was this a special showing for people with a short concentration span? Or is it a new trick to show the names after half an hour, and then continue the film?“

None of the five heads moved. Suddenly a baby cried. One of the heads got up with the baby and walked out.

-“ How cute, a grandma has taken her grandchild with her, went through my mind”.

 The other heads started moving and collecting something from the floor. They also had babies sleeping in portable baby car seats. 

Lights came on and I saw the heads belonged to young women. Where were the three old women from the cafe? Maybe I was at the wrong place? But it was the right film: I had recognized all the main actors from the ads. And it was a movie about a book club meeting.

A bit confused I left the movie theater and took the corridor towards the exit door. Around the first corner I saw doors with number 3, 4, 5 and 6. Number five was open: it was dimly lit, an action movie was running, and the controller was sitting alone in the middle of the theater. 

I explained my situation to him. He looked at me in disbelief, followed me out to the corridor and pointed at the closed number 4 door. Inside of number four I saw three heads in the darkness. This was the right place. After an hour the movie reached the point where I had jumped in at first. I knew what would follow, and left. 

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