This is a remake of the Danish film Silent Heart about a woman with a terminal illness who gathers her family together for a last weekend before she plans to take medicine to end it all.
Understandably staring assisted suicide in the face brings up a lot of juicy issues for a film or screenplay (in fact this plays more like theatre than anything). Roger Michell of Notting Hill fame directs this and the writer Christian Torpe is the same. I saw the original with Ghita Norby in the lead and found it acceptable enough. This is a different kettle of fish in some senses given that it has a Hollywood cast!
Susan Sarandon is Lily, the dying woman, Sam Neill, her doctor husband trying to keep things together.
Kate Winslet plays Jenny, her uptight bossy older daughter and Mia Wasikowska her unstable younger daughter, Anna.
Lindsay Duncan appears as Lily’s best friend Liz and there are 3 other cast members: Jenny’s husband and son and Anna’s on-off partner. It is a pleasure to watch these actors at work and Sarandon especially conveys the nuances of her role with dignity and authenticity. Winslet is cast against type but convinced me, Neill and Duncan give solid support in their roles, Wasikowska has some good moments and newcomer Aaron Boon has a couple of solid scenes.
The critics tended to rubbish the movie and it got me wondering why. Obviously, the fact that it’s a melodrama probably turned some off but the trouble is that this topic and melodrama go hand in hand and Michell is careful not to turn this into an all-out weepie.
I think the point relates more to an American aversity to facing death in their culture. Mostly, death in films is connected to violence or to humour. When do they discuss the simple fact that all of us pass on one day and how do we handle that. Many of the films to broach this topic have been by foreigners: Away from Her by Sarah Polley of Canada, The Father from the UK and the original of this film.
I wouldn’t rate this a masterpiece but it is well-made by the South African director and no one who acts in this could feel ashamed at the result. A sensitive, thoughtful film.
3 stars plus
passionfilm 