Audience Member
In short: Excellent situational plot around euthanasia, with ample complications and unexpected turns of events. Everyone's motives and reasoning are portrayed very well
Saw this at the Noordelijk film festival 2015 in Leeuwarden (NL). It all starts with a small family gathering over the weekend, nothing out of the ordinary at first sight. Rather than getting into the usual annoyances and uneasy relationships common with family in law, or old bones to pick between brothers and sisters, the weekend starts unproblematic. Plans have been made previously for a do-it-yourself form of euthanasia, which is illegal almost everywhere. Yet we learn that everyone involved has accepted the procedure. The timing is such that the mother can take the pills by herself, without help, something not possible anymore when her illness worsens, the latter due in 1 or 2 months. Her husband can say that she did it all by herself while he took a walk, particularly important as a precaution because as a doctor he certainly cannot be suspected of any active involvement in such a procedure.
The group of relatives assembled for the weekend in question is well chosen, from a plot perspective, with very diverse characters and attitudes, albeit that there are not so many family members that we lose track on the respective opinions and motives. In spite of the a priori agreement on the whole process, we observe that some are getting cold feet and we see them wanting to postpone or even dismiss the whole procedure. Reasons for it vary but are certainly genuine and we can follow their trains of thought very well. These withdrawals happen with one after the other, each with different motives, and each eventually coming along and prepared to stick to the original plan. It sounds confusing but the script is well designed and the timing is perfect.
One example, to illustrate the sort of objections, is that one daughter regrets that she did not spend enough time with her mother in the past, having given more thought to her career and other priorities elsewhere. Now that she has more time on her hands, she welcomes the opportunity to renew the relationship with her mother, and to discuss matters of mutual interest. This is something that I can understand fully, as having similar ideas myself over having not spent sufficient time with my parents, in spite of them devoting ample time to me when I was young. A second argument of the daughter is that doctors can be wrong in their predictions, in other words that the planned euthanasia is much too soon, and that medicine can be invented in the meantime to prolong her life for many years to come. All this is just an example of aforementioned turns of events, everything just rational and understandable, yet endangering the plans that were so well thought through.
It is an achievement in itself that it all happened on screen within 97 minutes, in a limited time span in which not a second was wasted, letting events pass by in a logical order and evenly spread over time. Don't assume an overall gloomy atmosphere, since there is ample humor included in spite of the circumstances.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Con una carrera irregular que incluye trabajos como "Pelle The Conqueror", "The House of the Spirits" y "Les Miserábles", el director danés Bille August logra un estupendo homenaje al cine intimista de Ingmar Bergman con "Silent Heart", la historia de una mujer (Ghita Norby) que reúne a su familia para decirles que debido a una enfermedad degenerativa (esclerosis lateral amiotrófica), ha decidido, con consentimiento de su esposo (Morten Grunwald), terminar con su vida antes que la enfermedad la convierta en un vegetal. August logra un retrato íntimo de la dinámica familiar tanto delicado como profundo, perfectamente fotografiado y con unas magníficas actuaciones que incluyen a la gran Paprika Steen, como Heidi, la dominante hija mayor y Pilou Asbaek como el ingenuo y marihuanero novio de la hija menor que le da perspectiva a la decisión tomada por la mujer. La cinta logra hablar sobre el amor, la vida y la muerte sin caer en pretensiones y dramatismos innecesarios y aunque su tema es oscuro, llena al espectador de optimismo y de una bocanada de aire tanto refrescante como vital. "Silent Heart" es quizás el mejor trabajo de Bille August hasta la fecha.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Con una carrera irregular que incluye trabajos como "Pelle The Conqueror", "The House of the Spirits" y "Les Miserábles", el director danés Bille August logra un estupendo homenaje al cine intimista de Ingmar Bergman con "Silent Heart", la historia de una mujer (Ghita Norby) que reúne a su familia para decirles que debido a una enfermedad degenerativa (esclerosis lateral amiotrófica), ha decidido, con consentimiento de su esposo (Morten Grunwald), terminar con su vida antes que la enfermedad la convierta en un vegetal. August logra un retrato íntimo de la dinámica familiar tanto delicado como profundo, perfectamente fotografiado y con unas magníficas actuaciones que incluyen a la gran Paprika Steen, como Heidi, la dominante hija mayor y Pilou Asbaek como el ingenuo y marihuanero novio de la hija menor que le da perspectiva a la decisión tomada por la mujer. La cinta logra hablar sobre el amor, la vida y la muerte sin caer en pretensiones y dramatismos innecesarios y aunque su tema es oscuro, llena al espectador de optimismo y de una bocanada de aire tanto refrescante como vital. "Silent Heart" es quizás el mejor trabajo de Bille August hasta la fecha.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Trodde den skulle være så fin. Men det ble litt teater for min del og så var jo historien grusom.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/21/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Imagine that the old lady of the family decides that she wants to die. She is suffering from a horrible disease and she is gradfully getting worse. She invites you and the rest of her closest family to one last weekend as she intend to die without pain with some help from an old doctor.
This is an all right plot. we get to know her, her family and we get some surprizes and twists. It's not as dark as it sounds. It has humour too, like the scene where they all get high together.
A serious film that looks great. It takes up several ethical and very debateable terms these days. It's well acted and it has a nice pace. Some flaws here and there, but in total a solid flick where emotions flow.
6.5 out of 10 euthanasias.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/17/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Life, in most cases, is unpredictable. And we'll just living one day at a time, not knowing what will come next. Friendships, endings, back and forth, it all happens without that we can plan.
However, Mute Heart the matriarch of a family knows when and how to die.
She chose a quick death and planned a slow and painful death. Preferred to paralyze your life just when he was lucid and aware of your family and beautiful memories.
Silent heart is a distressing and raw film from beginning to end. Not because it addresses the issue of euthanasia, but because it gives a more beautiful and courageous vision of death.
Death is natural and can not be avoided. Some people cry, people who have to outside everything you feel. There are people who look strong, but inside is about to explode with pain. This tension and anguish, this mixture of feelings and perceptions, makes Mute Heart a work that deserves to be read between the lines.
The film is short, but its content and value is infinite. The performances, the plans and the simple picture, make the film even more rich and deep.
After seeing Mute Heart, you may not need more than one marijuana cigarette to open the mind and speak what your heart feels openly and without taboo.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
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