Blackbird (2019)

Directed by: Roger Michell | 93 minutes | drama | Actors: Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Sam Neill, Rainn Wilson, Anson Boon, Lindsay Duncan, Bex Taylor-Klaus

An elderly couple invite their immediate family for a weekend at their secluded mansion. Not just for fun, but also to say goodbye. The materfamilias turns out to be seriously ill and wants – while she is still mentally competent and clear – to end her life herself. Father wants to help her with that. However, in their last weekend together, there appears to be some old hurts and unspoken frustrations, worries and fears among the family members. And is everyone happy with mother’s choice? This is what the Danish film ‘Stille hjerte’ (‘Silent Heart’, 2014) by Bille August, starring Ghita Nø​rby, Paprika Steen and Pilou Asbæk in the lead roles, among others. An English language remake of that film has now been released under the title ‘Blackbird’ (2019) and directed by Roger Michell (‘Notting Hill’ 1999; ‘Venus’, 2006). Christian Torpe rewrote his own Danish screenplay and a can of toppers was opened for the cast: Susan Sarandon plays mother Lili, Kate Winslet and Mia Wasikowska take on the role of her two daughters and Sam Neill is father Paul. The only eight cast members grew so close during the shooting that they all got the same tattoo of a blackbird (‘blackbird’) afterwards.

Free-spirited control freak Lily (Susan Sarandon) suffers from ALS and doesn’t want to deteriorate any further. So she asked her husband Paul (Sam Neill), who is a doctor, to help her perform euthanasia. In the state in which they live, however, this is prohibited, so they are forced to take the illegal route. Why they don’t just go to another state where euthanasia is legal, or to Europe, as Lily herself points out, is a mystery. It is not the case that the fact that they are planning something illegal brings a lot of tension in the film, because it is more in the mutual family ties. For her last weekend ‘in the earth’, Lily has invited her two daughters Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska). Neurotic Jennifer takes her husband, fact-fetishist Michael (Rainn Wilson) and son Jonathan (Anson Boon). Her licentious sister brings her loose-legged partner Chris (Bex Taylor-Klaus). Finally, family friend Liz (Lindsay Duncan) is also present. The impending end of Lily hangs like a sword from Damocle’s over the weekend and produces a number of awkward and confrontational situations: from something as small as choosing the gifts brought to certain revelations that suddenly put the events in a different light.

The first thing you notice about ‘Blackbird’ is that the characters and the house they roam in are so incredibly polished. The villa (which is actually on the southern English coast) is beautiful, that must be said. But the fact that Lily and Paul live there doesn’t necessarily make them realistic or recognizable to the viewer. The children and their supporters are just as obediently colored between the lines – yes, even the supposedly rebellious, lesbian daughter with psychological problems. They are very clearly carefully sketched, but don’t really come to life. Torpe is really missing something here. It is that they are played by top actors that you start to empathize with them. But our sympathy is mainly with the characters who are a bit further from the core: Liz, Chris and Jonathan. ‘Blackbird’ starts off fairly light in tone, with the necessary black humor that forms a nice counterpoint to the rather heavy theme of euthanasia. But soon the psychological struggles of the family members take over and the film starts ostentatiously fishing for the emotion of the viewer. The revelations that are made should hit like a bomb, but unfortunately the resonance is not there.

‘Blackbird’ may not quite live up to expectations and get stuck in superficiality, but it is still a pleasure to see top actors like Sarandon, Winslet, Neill and Wasikowska in action.