Synopsis:
Kimi walks into her father’s hospital room to find him, oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, breathing fitfully. He has suffered a stroke, affecting his ability to perform basic physical functions such as swallowing, breathing, and waking. The doctors have told the family only that his tests show a “mild stroke.”
Her brother, Johnnie, is on the phone asking his priest to come bless their father. Their mother, Mary, has been in the lounge, afraid to face her husband of 40 years in the state he is in.
When Mary appears, Kimi goes to her mother to comfort her and to be comforted, but Mary’s fragile strength causes her to rebuff Kimi. She isn’t surprised. Her mom has always been reserved with her. Kimi is distracted, too, by Johnnie’s phone conversation.
Johnnie converted to Catholicism when he married, but their father is Jewish. Granted John Sr. was never deeply religious. He is a Ph.D. in biology, an expert evolutionist and agnostic for much of his adulthood. Science is his religion. But in recent years he rediscovered his heritage.
Knowing that, Kimi wonders “What could Johnnie be thinking?” Johnnie is sure their father “won’t know the difference, anyway.” The siblings argue, and it is apparent they no longer share many common bonds. Their mother departs in tears. But just how unaware is John?
To capture the sense that John is aware of the goings on around him, “Host of Daffodils” is shot from his point of view. When John opens his eyes, his blurred vision slowly clears. When he blinks, when he coughs, when he sits up, the camera does, too.
The next day there are small gains in John’s recovery. He begins to move his arms and legs. He communicates in simple words. Still, it is not the improvement that should accompany a “mild stroke.” The family calls the family doctor who gives them a layman’s knowledge of John’s condition. Finally, Mary, Kimi and Johnnie hear what they sensed but did not want to face. The stroke was severe.
On day three, John is sitting up in a chair. Despite the bad news the day before, the family clings to hope from his seemingly improved state. His ability to speak is coming back in bits, and he is able to cheer his family with his wry sense of humor.
On day four, Kimi brings her father’s favorite book of poems to read to him. With a growing sense of understanding for the woman her mother is, Kimi offers Mary the chance to pick out the first poem, and they are both shyly pleased with their new friendship. Kimi is further delighted to learn that Johnnie, despite his own beliefs, has called the local temple, and a rabbi has come to pray for her father.
As Kimi reads his favorite Wordsworth poem, “The Daffodils,” John’s family moves through his memory like a host of daffodils “beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze” as Wordsworth imagined.
At the poem’s end, John speaks. The words don’t make sense at first. “My candle burns at both ends,” he says. He continues, “It will not last the night.” “But ah, my foes…” Mary joins, “and oh, my friends…” they say together. “It gives a lovely light,” Mary finishes the last line. She knows the poem and understands he is saying goodbye.
The next morning, Kimi awakes to the phone call everyone dreads. She goes to her mother with the news that John has passed away. But Mary has been awake for hours. She knows. She takes her daughter in her arms to comfort her. Kimi calls Johnnie, and they exchange “I love you’s,” meaning it for the first time in years.
With every loss, there is gain, and in John’s last days he left his family with gifts. Johnnie was given a last chance to make a new connection with his father by putting aside his own religious preferences. Kimi and her mother grew to know each other as women. Johnnie and Kimi regenerated their bond as siblings. Someday soon, they realize, their mother will die as well. But they know that with their families by their sides, they can deal with any hardship the future held.
