Sydney Film Festival Review - Dying

 

“Are you hurt? Are you ok?”

Tragic, epic and symphonic, Dying is an multi-generational saga that explores the turbulence of family rifts and disappointed dreams with emotional performances from Lars Eidinger, Lilith Stangenberg, Corinna Harfouch and Hans-Uwe Bauer, who chase after and embrace the fleeting moments of life, as they are confronted with the morbidly simple facts of dying. 

Discussion Points:

German director Matthias Glasner deeply personal epic family saga seeks to capture life and being alive, in the face of disappointment, sickness and dying in a 3 hour therapy session that unpacks the death of his parents and the broken relationship he has with his sister. Lars Eidinger, Lilith Stangenberg, Corinna Harfouch and Hans-Uwe Bauer play the dysfunctional family, marked by mental illness, apathy, and the busyness of life that brings separation as a side effect. The film is broken into 5 parts: the first three acts following the perspectives of the mother, Lisse; the son, Tom; and the sister, Ellen; followed by two acts following the interwoven stories around Tom conducting a symphony, and its composers suicide. The epilogue then celebrates a new life being born, and the hope that the troubled history of the past will mot impede on the future and the cycle will be broken. Marked by deeply human dialogue and behaviour, Dying is unflinching in its depiction of broken families and broken people. And yet it still remains hopeful about the good in humanity. Despite the arduous 3 hour runtime, segments fly past due to the quick dialogue and entrancing subject matter. Deeply empathetic, sympathetic and tragic, Dying is really a film all about living.