‘Blackbird’ by Roger Mitchell

Lily, the matriarch of her family, takes the decision to end her life prematurely after finding out she has ALS.  Presumably Living in Connecticut, a US state without a law providing for medical aid in dying, she must do so on her own. Paul, her husband, is a doctor who assists her in acquiring the medication she needs to end her life. Before doing so, she invites her family to spend a final weekend together in her beach home. The film depicts the family’s divergent views on her choice to end her life and the different ways each of her family members grieve her passing in advance. One of her daughters, Anna, concocts a plan to call the police as she engages in her suicide plan as she does not feel ready for her mother to pass. Jennifer, Lily’s second daughter, convinces Anna to abandon her plan to contact the police before later finding her father, Paul, kissing a long-time family friend. Jennifer creates a scene on the final day of the visit exposing what she saw and stating that it is now she who will call the police, believing her father to be unduly influencing her mother after having already moved on to a new partner. It is revealed in the final moments of the film that Lily encouraged Paul and this family friend to have an affair in order to free her from the burden of ending her life and leaving Paul behind alone. The final scene of the film depicts Lily, her two daughters, and Paul supporting her as she takes the medication and passes. The film leaves the viewer content for Lily who was able to receive her wish.

The film takes place in an unspecified location in the US Northeast. Media and reviewers speculate that the film takes place in Connecticut, due to the architecture of the home, where there is no law providing for medical assistance in dying. In 2023, the Connecticut legislature considered medical-aid-in-dying legislation, but the bill was not adopted. In the state there is no penal code provision for assisting someone who commits suicide; however Penal Code Sec. 53a-56 have been used to apply murder or manslaughter charges to those who aid another in their death. The film is based off of the 2014 Danish film, Silent Heart, by the same screenwriter.