An epic and darkly funny symphony of family dysfunction, Dying follows the estranged members of the Lunies family as they wrestle with chaotic private lives. Son Tom (Lars Eidinger), a well-regarded conductor, is too preoccupied to give his
ailing parents the attention they need. He’s juggling work - overseeing a new orchestral piece - and a confusing relationship with an ex who wants him to co-parent her newborn child. Meanwhile, daughter Ellen fumbles through life plagued by alcohol-induced blackouts and an affair with a married colleague.
Winner of Best Screenplay at the Berlin Film Festival and Best Film at the German Film Awards, Dying is a brilliant and sharply comic portrayal of a family slowly unraveling as they contend with the chaos life brings.
The Garden Cinema View:
A film that subverts expectations, in that Dying is more lowkey than the title, logline, and running-time, suggest. Starting in seemingly grim end-of-life circumstances (think Amour or Vortex), but opening up to consider a broader view of a dysfunctional German family with some sharply written, and often quite funny scenes. Other than steely matriarch Lissy, our principal trio is completed by stressed out conductor Tom, and alcoholic dental nurse Ellen. Lissy’s scenes are perhaps the most painful, and the most piercingly honest, whilst Ellen’s chapter feels quite thin, her character lacking dimensions. Tom - who would feel at home in a Ruben Östlund film - is ultimately the centre of a film that feels at times quite novelistic, and at others a little artificial (Tom conducts a piece titled 'Dying' which is described at overlong and pointless).
