‘Les mots de la fin’ by Gaëlle Hardy and Agnès Lejeune

Gaëlle Hardy and Agnès Lejeune’s documentary brings the viewer into the heart of assisted dying in Belgium, into the office of one of the physicians responsible for evaluating patients’ requests for euthanasia. In opening up the very private space of the consulting room, the film showcases the human side of assisted dying, focusing on the individual stories of those requesting an assisted death and on their relationships with their family, friends and Dr Damas, the physician who has the power to support or reject their application. This focus on personal stories makes the core issues of the film all the more tangible, calling the viewer to reflect deeply on the questions raised. The documentary also provides insights on the evaluation process prior to an assisted death in Belgium. It brings the viewer into the meetings in which physicians evaluate requests and decide their outcome. In this sense, it has a somewhat educational quality, seeking to inform the viewer on the practical aspects of requesting an assisted death in Belgium.

Like many documentaries on the topic of assisted dying, this work focuses on people: Dr Damas and his colleagues, their patients and family members. The filmmakers harness a range of cinematographic tools to humanise the process of accessing and delivering assisted dying and to provide an window into its impact on providers, patients and relatives. Images of nature recur throughout the film, but many feature sombre undertones (e.g. leafless/dead trees, a dark-feathered bird flying overhead), foreshadowing the difficulty of the topic under discussion. The camera work offers a distinct sense of intimacy, and immediacy, as it brings the viewer directly into the various spaces of assisted dying depicted in the film, and closely follows Dr Damas as he moves through these spaces. Sound also plays a key role in the film, particularly in its final quarter, where the viewer is presented with a number of static shots (a hospital corridor, the closed door of a patient’s hospital room, the façade of the hospital and views of nature through a hospital window), while the sounds of a patient’s final consultation and subsequent assisted death play out. The film’s rich aesthetic features are central to its impact, which lingers long in the mind of the viewer.

Produced almost twenty years after the introduction of euthanasia in Belgium, there is an extent to which the film is a response to the criticisms that the country’s assisted dying provision has faced over that time. By bringing the viewer, quite literally, to the centre of the debate and showcasing the reflective process of physicians, both individually (with their patients) and collectively (as part of a wider medical team), there is an attempt to quieten the critique that the system has become overly liberal, with physicians offering an assisted death to anyone who requests it. By highlighting the human dimension of assisted dying, particularly in the powerful closing scenes mentioned above, and by presenting the humanity of Dr Damas, the film also seeks to move away from an idea of an assisted death as cold and clinical and towards an understanding of it as something much more akin to the values of palliation. As the media coverage, interest group attention and legal citation suggest, this film is playing an important role in shaping societal understandings of assisted dying in Belgium, and in prompting reflection in other francophone countries where the question of legalising assisted dying is currently under debate.