A Time to Live

Episode
Episode 1
Broadcast Info
2017 (59 mins)
Description
What would you do if you were told you had a terminal illness and may only have months to live?
Award winning film-maker Sue Bourne wanted to make a film about living, not dying. She set out to find people of all ages who had managed to find positives in their terminal prognosis and were making the most of the time they had left.
The twelve people in this thought-provoking and uplifting film range from their twenties to their late sixties. They speak eloquently and inspiringly about what they’ve discovered really matters in life. They smile and laugh and try not to cry because they say that crying and being sad is a waste of the precious time they have left. Some say they feel privileged to have been told how much time they have left. Others are pleased they’re going to die before they get old because at least now they know they won’t have to face a miserable and sad old age.
Thirty year old Fi says she’d now rather have a good life than a long one. Sixty nine year old Kevin says he and his wife have had some of the best times of their life since his diagnosis. Forty nine year old Lisa says she intends spending her remaining time laughing and having fun she’s been given a heads up so she wants to do things and not just talk about them. Cindy says she is possibly happier now than she has ever been. And when Annabel discovered she may only have a couple of years she left her husband and family. She says that cancer and a terminal diagnosis gave her the confidence finally to grasp the life she wanted.
Everyone in the film describes the intensity that comes with knowing your time is limited - how as a result they all appreciate and celebrate their remaining life.
These are remarkable testimonies that make you go away and think about how to live your own life. And make you wonder how best to face your own death when that time comes.
This is a film that will strike a chord with everyone. We all know someone who is ill or dying. And whether we think about it or not we are all going to die.
The people who agreed to take part in the film are brave - their honesty and candour is astonishing. It’s remarkable that terminally ill people took the time to sit in front of a camera and tell us what it feels like and how they cope with their impending death. But they chose to share their thoughts because they hoped that by talking openly about knowing you are going to die soon it will help others in the same situation. Or anyone with a relative who is going to die soon.
This film has been a year in the making. Bourne thinks it’s really important for us to talk more opening about death and dying. And also to realize that you never know what’s round the corner so be sure to try and make the most of our lives. For Bourne too this film was something of a personal journey she’d lost a lot of people close to her in recent years and had become intrigued by the different ways they’d chosen to face death. There is no right or wrong way to die but from what she had witnessed, and researched, it did seem that finding a positive, any sort of positive - "smiling to the end" as Kevin in the film says - did seem to make things more bearable.
Bourne herself has had cancer so is rather sharply attuned to the need to think about how to face death when that day comes. You can sense this is a subject Bourne is close to from the understanding and empathy between her and her interviewees her willingness to ask the really tough questions and their willingness to answer them.
This is a film that will hopefully get everyone talking. And thinking. And looking at how we live our lives.
Genre
Medicine; Philosophy and Ethics; Research; Health and Social Care

How to cite this record

The Open University, "A Time to Live". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/228148 (Accessed 09 Jan 2025)