Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Much Ado About Dying

    • Director

      Simon Chambers

    • Credits

      Producer:
      David Rane

  • Category

    Documentary

Filmmaker Simon finds his life drastically interrupted when he is called back from Delhi to London to care for his dying uncle David, an eccentric, cantankerous, flamboyant thesp obsessed with King Lear. David has been given months to live but ‘improves’ when Simon arrives and they embark on a five-year odyssey from the squalor of David’s rubbish-filled flat. Simon tries to curb David’s urge to give all his money away to his handsome Brazilian carer and friendly but self-interested neighbours.

Despite the house burning down, homelessness, cancer, and the dreaded ‘care home’, Simon helps David to create an exuberant final performance to send him on his way. Though at times painfully intimate, Chambers’s film ultimately celebrates a joyous spirit which transcends the indignities of old age.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn

82 minutes, Ireland, UK, 2022, Colour

IFI CINEMAS TODAY


The IFI is supported
by The Arts Council

Arts Council of Ireland