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Clip description
Terminally ill Gavin (David Bonney) has received an injection but he’s taking longer to die than his mother (Judi Farr), brother (Nathaniel Dean), sister-in-law (Anna Lise Phillips), and friends Anna (Maria Theodorakis) and Charlie (Vince Colosimo) expected. They give him a second injection but even that takes a while, leaving Charlie to take drastic action.
Curator’s notes
This scene is one of the most crucial in the film. It doesn’t give the audience any soft options. It shows euthanasia to be a traumatic process for all those engaging in it. This is not because of its illegality (which is not made an issue by the filmmakers) but due to the emotional hardship involved, and because killing Gavin takes much longer than anyone is prepared for.
Gavin is declared dead by the person administering the second injection, who then leaves in a hurry to make another appointment. But then Gavin starts breathing again, which leads to Charlie’s drastic action with a plastic bag – something that will haunt him through the rest of the film and lead to feelings of guilt and anger.
