Mourning Has Broken

Mourning Has Broken is a complex and nuanced film that reveals the thin line between tragedy and comedy, love and hate, life and death. A husband wakes up to find that he has lost his wife, prematurely, to a terminal illness during the night. Married for nearly two decades without any children, set in a life of ritual and mutual support, the husband has no way to truly deal with the loss. In denial of the reality of the situation he seals himself up emotionally and starts his day as if everything were normal. Finding the weekend ‘to-do’ list on the fridge that his wife had made for him (as usual) gives the husband the direction and impetus he needs to move forward as if everything were fine. He sets out to complete the tasks on the list but despite his inner monologue being well-tempered, observant, funny and occasionally non-sequitur, his actions in the world are wild and without conscience. What normally would be annoying nuisances and pet peeves on a Saturday afternoon out in the retail jungle are now a call to action for a man who has nothing left to live for. As the day moves forward, the grief and sorrow the husband has bottled up inside results in increasingly drastic reactions to the situations that arise as he tries to complete the list. Following a climax which finally puts the intensity of his emotions in sync with his actions, the husband calmly swallows the entire bottle of prescription pills he picked up for his wife from the ‘to-do’ list and curls up to join her for eternity.