HEARTFELD AND HEARTRENDING
Anyone who’s ever dealt with an elderly relative will find much to relate to in Simon Chambers’ Much Ado About Dying.
This deeply personal but profoundly universal tale opens with the filmmaker returning from a long sojourn in Delhi to London, to manage his uncle David, a retired actor who stumbles about in apparent confusion but who reads and quotes liberally from Shakespeare. The film is peppered with allusions to King Lear, the tragic story about an addled old monarch who opens a Pandora’s Box of woe by dividing his kingdom among his three daughters.
Chambers’ compellingly crafted film covers at least four years near the end of David’s life — a period where he goes from living in a shabby overstuffed old house, to a rented flat, to a hospital, and ultimately to a “care home.” We learn that he’s an incredibly untidy hoarder with no ability to manage his money, some of which he squirrels away in hidden spaces in his home, and much of which he gives to a manipulative artist and sometimes caregiver Rodrigo, whom Simon rarely encounters in person.
We have no idea where David’s money comes from or how he has managed to pay his bills. Still somewhat ambulatory as the film begins, he never leaves the house. Rodrigo’s power over David, in Simon’s opinion, is that his uncle is smitten with the much younger and decidedly heterosexual artist.
Simon exhibits saintly endurance with his uncle during his long slow descent. So do David’s trusted neighbors Zibby and Beata, who move in with him with their pack of dogs. Likely caused by David’s cognitive impairment, a fire destroys the home, displacing all of them.
Then there are multiple medical issues, including a urinary tract infection that causes uremic poisoning, further affecting David’s cognitive capacity, and ultimately, a diagnosis of prostate cancer that will end his life. Throughout the ordeal, Simon remains as dispassionate and objective as he can be in circumstances that would try the patience of ordinary people. With a disarming lack of inhibition, David remains upbeat and jovial, even saying to a friend “Dying is like going on holiday without the bother of packing.”
Nicely paced, and beautifully edited by Clare Ferguson, Much Ado About Dying is both an act of exorcism and an act of love.
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Barry Willis is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association and president of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.
photos courtesy of First Run Films
Much Ado About Dying
Tiffin Films, Soilsiú Films
First Run Features Release
2022 | 84 min | UK/Ireland | in English
U.S. theatrical premiere March 15, 2024: New York’s Film Forum Los Angeles premiere Friday, March 22, 2024: Laemmle’s Monica Film Center
wider national expansion in select markets to follow
UK/Ireland release 5 April, 2024
for dates, cities and more screenings, visit Much Ado
