Dying (2024 film)

Dying (German: Sterben) is a 2024 German comedy drama film. It is about an elderly couple on the brink of death and their two children who are too concerned with their own troubles to get involved. The film premiered at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival on 16 February 2024, and won Best Picture at the 2024 German Film Awards.

Dying
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Matthias Glasner
Written by	Matthias Glasner
Produced by	Jan Krüger Matthias Glasner Ulf Israel
Starring	Lars Eidinger Corinna Harfouch Lilith Stangenberg
Cinematography	Jakub Bejnarowicz
Edited by	Heike Gnida
Music by	Lorenz Dangel
Production companies	Port au Prince Schwarzweiss Filmproduktion Senator Film ZDF Arte
Distributed by	Wild Bunch
Release dates	16 February 2024 (2024-02-16) (Berlin) 25 April 2024 (2024-04-25) (Germany) 9 June 2024 (2024-06-09) (Sydney)
Running time	182 minutes[1]
Country	Germany
Language	German English Latvian

Synopsis

Dying follows the lives of an estranged family of four: Tom Lunies, a conductor in Berlin; his sister Ellen Lunies, an alcoholic dental assistant; and their elderly parents Lissy and Gerd. Lissy has many ailments and is only semi-mobile, while Gerd has dementia and tends to wander into other people's homes.^[2][3] Tom, an emotionally cold character, is preparing to conduct an orchestral project called Dying (Sterben), composed by Bernard, his chronically depressed friend of twenty years.^[3]

Cast

• Lars Eidinger as Tom Lunies
• Lilith Stangenberg as Ellen Lunies
• Corinna Harfouch as Lissy Lunies
• Hans-Uwe Bauer as Gerd Lunies
• Robert Gwisdek as Bernard
• Ronald Zehrfeld as Sebastian Vogel
• Saskia Rosendahl as Ronja
• Anna Bederke as Liv
• Saerom Park as Mi-Do

Production

The film was written and directed by Matthias Glasner, and co-produced by Glasner, Jan Krueger, and Ulf Israel. Cinematography was by Jakub Bejnarowicz, and the musical score was composed by Lorenz Dnagel. Heike Gnida edited the film.^[4]

Dying has been described as black comedy.^[5] It is divided into five different chapters over its three-hour length.^[2]

Actor Lars Eidinger had to learn how to conduct an orchestra (as did Cate Blanchett for Tár), and he said that he modelled his performance on Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis.^[3]

Release

The film had its world premiere on 16 February 2024 at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.^[6][7]

It played at the Sydney Film Festival on 9 June 2024,^[8] and also screened at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2024.^[3]

Reception

Reviews have been generally positive.^[9][10]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "a black comedy of Franzenesque family dysfunction; maybe not profound exactly but terrifically watchable and entertaining".^[5] The Hollywood Reporter called it "to die for", writing "Out of all the film’s many achievements, perhaps the most impressive is the ability to keep the tone balanced just on this biting point between tragedy and comedy in scene after scene".^[4]

Awards and nominations

• 74th Berlin International Film Festival 2024
  • Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
  • Guild Film Prize
  • Golden Bear (nominated)

• German Film Award 2024
  • Best Fiction Film^[11]
  • Best Actress – Corinna Harfouch
  • Best Supporting Actor – Hans-Uwe Bauer
  • Best Original Score
  • Best Director (nominated)
  • Best Screenplay (nominated)
  • Best Actor – Lars Eidinger (nominated)
  • Best Supporting Actor – Robert Gwisdek (nominated)
  • Best Editing (nominated)

• Sydney Film Festival 2024
  • Best Picture (nominated)