Dormant Beauty and Lullaby, released the same week in Los Angeles, present different situations but culturally predictable stories, posing the question who has the right to end life.
Dormant Beauty (Bella addormentata), directed by Marco Bellocchio, dramatizes the famous situation in 2009, when Beppe Englaro announced his decision to take his daughter Eluana, in a coma for 17 years following a car accident, off mechanical life support. For contrast, two others are in long-term comas, and the plug can be pulled more quietly, but in the context of the national debate. Many Italians wonder whether euthanasia is a right or a sin and show very lively emotion on both sides of the issue, including families and lovers divided on the subject. A Senator (Toni Servillo) is more contemplative, as a law on the subject is being debated in parliament, and his party (Berlusconi’s party) wants him to vote against his conscience. MH