The Farewell Party

Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon co-write and co-direct the Israeli black comedy "The Farewell Party." No, this is not an adaptation of the novel by the same name by Milan Kundera, though both works have a facility for moments of telling absurdity. Rather, this "The Farewell Party" follows a group of friends residing at an assisted living facility who resort to a "mercy killing machine" when the suffering of friends and fellow inmates becomes unbearable.

The inventor of the machine, a tinkerer named Yehezkel (Ze'ev Revach), is also the leader of the group. He knows what he's doing is illegal, but in his heart he is convinced that sparing people slow, agonizing deaths is ethically the right thing to do. He's moved to build the machine by the plight of his friend Max, but even more so by the suffering of Max's wife, Yana (Aliza Rosen), who is beyond heartsick to see the love of her life fading away in such torment.

In order to design and operate the machine, Yehezkel recruits the assistance of several residents of the facility. Dr. Daniel (Ilan Dar), a veterinarian, has the medical knowledge; Rafael (Rafi Tabor), a former police officer, knows how to avoid leaving any incriminating evidence. The only one who harbors moral doubts about euthanasia is Yehezkel's wife, Levana (Levana Finkelstein), who is drawn into the group's endeavors only with great reluctance.

The film massages all the usual arguments for and against allowing people to choose the time and circumstances of their own deaths. There's the death with dignity angle; there's the sentiment that no human being has the right to take his own life. Thankfully, most of the polemics are set aside for the sake of characters and story -- though the story does contain some odd comic sensibilities and one quite strange musical interlude. (Among the bleakest of the film's funny moments is a conversation set in a smoky room, with the participants gathered around a table, cigarettes in hand, talking about a terminally ill person. The disease? Lung cancer. Everyone nods gravely, oblivious to the situation's ironies.)

The story grows more complicated as we learn that Levana suffers from increasingly severe episodes of dementia. Another complication: Everyone at the assisted living facility (except the heartless, humorless administrators) has an inkling about the assisted suicide machine. People start coming out of the woodwork to plead for Yehezkel and pals to help them out by providing a swift, painless means to exit this life. Things begin to spiral out of control from there, challenging Yehezkel's ethical certainties -- but also challenging the moral convictions Levana clings to.

If the subtext seems slanted and a little hostile insofar as the only person opposed to what the group is doing is also someone suffering from dementia (so how much can we trust her judgment?), there are even more jolting aspects to the film. Two of the characters turn out to be secret gay lovers; in one scene they quarrel about how the married partner has yet to tell his wife he's gay and leave her. The married man finds a way out of the uncomfortable exchange by suggesting that they forget such troubles and have sex. Responds the other man: "What does sex have to do with it? Yes!" It's funny -- one of the funniest lines in the movie -- but it's also a little offensive, suggesting as it does that a gay man's first priority in any situation is getting off. (Of course, the same accusation could by leveled at any straight man, too, with just as much... or just as little... accuracy.)

This isn't exactly the sort of movie that warms the heart while making a social statement, in the vein of British movies like "Brassed Off," "The Full Monty," "Pride," and so on. However, it does provoke thought, and it does elicit laughter -- some of it a little shocked, but still. What the film has going for it that really stands out is a sort of mercilessness: None of these characters is really right about anything, but they all have a valid point of view. That makes "The Farewell Party" a conversation, and not just a propaganda piece.