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A Woman’s Tale (1991)

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clip 'Life is beautiful'

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Clip description

Marta (Sheila Florance) is dying. She has locked the door on her son and the landlord, but she allows Anna (Gosia Dobrowolska) into the flat. Anna gives Marta a dose of morphine, rather than see her taken back to hospital. The inference is that it kills her.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

A Woman’s Tale was made in 1991, four years before the Northern Territory passed its short-lived legislation to allow voluntary euthanasia (overturned by the federal government in 1997). Nevertheless, the film advances a strong argument in favour of a right to death, albeit in a very controversial manner. Anna’s injection is given without Marta having asked for it, or any unambiguous evidence that that is what she wants (although there is a clear suggestion that it is). It is Anna’s decision alone, based on her love for her friend and her regard for her wishes – to die in her own bed, rather than in hospital. This would not be a position that any pro-euthanasia groups would endorse, but the film isn’t making a political argument – more an emotional one, about the bonds and responsibilities of friendship.

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