A Beautiful Death

Catherine is a practitioner of “prescriptive music”; she performs the harp for the terminally ill.

Whilst observing their vital signs she tailors her playing to suit each client’s personality, state of mind and stage of expiration. Her music allows those who listen to her to enter into the unbinding process of letting go.

Alone in her large and sinister house, she spends her nights provoked into practice by her majestic concert harp. A lonely and insular figure whose eyes have been shaped by death, Catherine works tirelessly to help those in their final hours let go.

Why then can’t she bless herself with the same release?

Written, Directed and Edited by Will Thomas Freeman

Cinematography: Oskar Kudlacik

Sound and Music: Petar Mrdjen

Producers: Will Thomas Freeman, Tom Woffenden, Chris Mitchell

Starring: Alex Reid, Nick Ewans and Edward Cartwright

Produced by Dantalion Films and Period 8 Pictures

This project came to the author as a response to reading two news articles on the same day. One was about prescriptive music, harp music played in the last days and hours of life. The other was about a woman who refused to accept her husband’s passing and continued to share a bed with him. A Beautiful Death was born from these two elements and emerged out of the long-term desire of the director to collaborate with the actress Alex Reid who fit perfectly with the envisioned role.