‘Epilogue’ by Manno Lanssens

This documentary, which opens with footage of Neel Couwel’s funeral, portrays the last seven months of her life. Neel is a 50-year-old Belgian woman who has been suffering from gastro and oesophagal cancer for years and is now facing the terminal stage. In early February, Neel tells her friends over dinner that, according to her doctor, she only has one year to live. However, in light of such news, she wants to enjoy her life as much as possible. Together with her husband Mark, she travels to Ireland, a country she dearly loves and where she would like part of her ashes to be scattered. Then, back home, she discovers that secondary tumours have been found and that she now has only a matter of weeks, rather than months, to live. Following this prognosis, Neel decides to file a request for euthanasia, motivated by the desire to know that if her pain and suffering become unbearable, she will be able to end her life. Together with her family and an undertaker, they discuss her funeral and begin to design her death notice card, which will be sent out to family and friends after her passing. Concurrently, Neel begins to receive palliative care, and her request for euthanasia is granted. Over the course of a couple of weeks, Neel slowly starts to lose her strength until she decides to action her request for euthanasia and is given a date in September. In her final days, she has a last conversation with her palliative caregiver, and the family has one last dinner together before she dies in their arms the next morning. The documentary ends with her children scattering some of her ashes at the Poulnabrone Dolmen in Ireland, granting her final wish.

Epilogue garnered some success after its release in 2011. The documentary won an Ensor, a Flemish film prize, for Best Documentary in 2012. It was shown at the Visions du Réel International Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland, in 2011, where it got a special mention for Best Film, as well as at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic), where it was nominated for Best World Documentary in 2011. Director Manno Lassens was motivated by the death of his grandmother to make this film. In various interviews, he stated that he struggled to come to terms with how she passed away, a circumstance he did not further specify, ultimately prompting him to create a documentary about the end of life. He believed that making a film of this kind is important, particularly since it is considered to be a taboo subject. After an extensive search, Lanssens found Neel and her family, who were open to the idea of making a documentary about Neel’s final months. Neel felt strongly that illness and death are too often ignored or hidden in society. As she put it, ‘People used to die at home, everyone was familiar with it. Nowadays, it is hidden away.’ Neel’s greatest wish was to die comfortably in her own home, surrounded by her family. Through euthanasia, it was not only ensured that she wouldn’t have to suffer but it also allowed her to fulfill this wish. By bringing the topics of dying and euthanasia into the public eye, Lanssens and Neel aimed to demonstrate that ‘dying at home is also possible’. By showing how euthanasia enabled Neel to die pain-free and peacefully at home, the documentary fosters an understanding of euthanasia as a compassionate act, encouraging viewers to consider it as a way to maintain dignity and comfort in one’s final moments.