Dying (German: Sterben) is 2024 German comedy drama film. It is about an elderly couple on the brink of death and their two children who are too concerned with their own troubles to get involved. The film premiered at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival on 16 February 2024, and won Best Picture at the 2024 German Film Awards.
Synopsis
Dying follows the lives of an estranged family of four: Tom Lunies, a famous conductor in Berlin; his sister Ellen Lunies, a dental assistant who is alcoholic; and their elderly parents Lissy and Gerd. Lissy has many ailments and is only semi-mobile, while Gerd has dementia and tends to wander into other people's homes.[1][2] Tom, an emotionally cold character, is preparing to conduct an orchestral project called Dying (Sterben).[2]
The film was written and directed by Matthias Glasner, and co-produced by Glasner, Jan Krueger, and Ulf Israel. Cinematography was by Jakub Bejnarowicz, and the musical score was composed by Lorenz Dnagel. Heike Gnida edited the film.[3]
Dying has been described as black comedy.[4] It is divided into five different chapters over its three-hour length.[1]
Actor Lars Eidinger had to learn how to conduct an orchestra (as did Cate Blanchett for Tár), and he said that he modelled his performance on Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis.[2]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a black comedy of Franzenesque family dysfunction; maybe not profound exactly but terrifically watchable and entertaining".[4]The Hollywood Reporter called it "to die for", writing "Out of all the film’s many achievements, perhaps the most impressive is the ability to keep the tone balanced just on this biting point between tragedy and comedy in scene after scene".[3]
