Caregiver

With her husband Ted (John Estrada) away working in a London hospital, Sarah (Sharon Cuneta) longs for a better life than her job teaching English in a high school in Manila. Forgoing a promotion in school, and leaving her son Paulo in the care of her parents, she takes the leap and joins the large workforce of Filipinos who every year go to work around the world to improve their lives and realize their dreams.

Once in London however, Sarah gets a dose of reality. She is readily employed as a caregiver in a seniors’ home but discovers that the work is a mix of humiliating acts of ablution, managing senile or irate patients, and long hours. Nevertheless, her command of English and genuine feelings for her patients are recognized and she is assigned to the better paid job of looking after the wealthier and more demanding patients. Although her new patient Mr. Morgan is surly and arrogant, she saves his life. But their relationship does not warm until she talks back at his rudeness, bringing him around to a better understanding of her situation.

But as Sarah’s relationship with her patient improves, her marriage to Ted begins to show strain. She tries to curb Ted’s spendthrift ways (he smokes, drinks, and spends her first paycheck on a big screen TV), realizing that unless they economize, they will never be able to prove sufficient financial security to bring son Paulo over to join them. Ted reacts badly and they argue, a reprise it seems of their life in the Philippines. Their situation deteriorates further when Sarah discovers the truth of Ted’s job. His drinking worsens and Sarah’s dreams are put in jeopardy.

Caregiver marked megastar Sharon Cuneta’s 30th anniversary in showbusiness, and her return to the screen in four years. Her fans were not disappointed and made the film one of the local industry’s biggest box office hits of the year.