First prize at Rome Film Festival

The cast of the black comedy about Dignitas, Please Kill Me.

A Belgian black comedy about assisted suicide has taken away the top prize at the Rome Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter predicts that Please Kill Me will become a “cult hit” on the art house circuit.

The black and white film is obviously
inspired by Dignitas, the Swiss suicide clinic. The absurdist comedy centres on
Dr Kruger, who runs a state-financed clinic where a number of very strange
characters go to seek help in committing suicide. He is clearly modelled on
Ludwig Minelli, the director of Dignitas and even proposes the same ideals:
“one day suicide will be a human right”.

In the end, the residents of the clinic
begin fighting amongst themselves and the local village launches a bloody
attack for reasons which never become clear. There are few survivors. As we
said, it is a black comedy. ~ Hollywood
Reporter, Nov 4

Michael Cook
assisted suicide
Dignitas
films
Ludwig Minelli

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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