Much Ado About Dying

Simon Chambers is shooting a film in India when his uncle David calls him with a message of doom: “I think I may be dying.” What the viewer doesn’t yet know is that David is a total drama queen, a former actor and teacher, and a Shakespeare-lover who has grown old on a diet of attention and applause. Chambers returns to London to look after his uncle and capture his final stages of life on camera.

David thoroughly enjoys playing the lead in his own life. Furiously reciting monologues from plays, usually stark naked, he wanders through the mess of what has probably never been an orderly household. “It became clear that David had no intention of dying,” Chambers says dryly in the commentary. He continues to film his eccentric uncle until his last breath.

Chambers has created a beautiful document edited from many hours of material, which reveals an often-tragicomic relationship, and is at the same time a moving ode to an independent spirit who lived life to the fullest up until the last minute.