For Lullaby, directed by Andrew Levitas, a Jewish man (Richard Jenkins) in New York chooses to end his life of suffering after 12 years of terminal cancer, though he was only given 6 months to live when diagnosed. His wife (Anne Archer) and children display self-centered emotional responses at first and then maudlin emotion, as the patriarch lucidly persuades his family to accept his decision. His son (Garrett Hedlund), in particular, is transformed by the experience from a spoiled boy to a man with a deep sense of caring, thanks to the appearance of a former girlfriend (Amy Adams) and precious children who are dying of cancer at the same hospital. Near the end, when he appears to tire of his family’s anguish, the father asks his daughter (Jessica Brown Findlay), a budding attorney, to make the argument before him that she argued in court for an injunction to stop him from pulling the plug, knowing that her words in a hospital bedroom will fall flat.
But the question posed in both films seems to be answered by identifying special circumstances to justify the deliberate ending of life rather than invoking the concept of rights. Both films raise consciousness about the issue but leave the debate about the question to audiences. MH