Dying looks at family relationships through the proximity of death. Matthias Glasner's drama follows the Lunies family, whose damaged connections come into focus as conductor Tom faces his parents' decline and his sister's unsettled life.
Lars Eidinger gives Tom a striking mixture of vulnerability and raw intensity. Corinna Harfouch brings resignation and resilience into the mother's presence, while Lilith Stangenberg gives Ellen an unpredictable energy. The performances make the family's emotional weight tangible.
Glasner balances brutality with moments of beauty. The film looks closely at its characters' internal lives, finding complex feelings inside relationships that do not offer easy comfort. Its interest in mortality remains inseparable from the difficulties of living together.
Jakub Bejnarowicz's camera has a calm, meditative quality. The images reflect emotional desolation alongside occasional intimacy, allowing the viewer time to consider what the characters cannot readily express. The visual restraint gives the performances space.
Lorenz Dangel's music provides a powerful counterpoint, strengthening the story's emotional undercurrents. The settings move between starkness and small moments of warmth, contributing to the film's complicated view of family life.
Dying is an intense, moving and thoughtful experience. Glasner finds beauty within pain without disguising the damage around it. The exceptional ensemble gives his exploration of mortality depth, while the film's attention to life's imperfections makes it more than a meditation on the end.