Notes for My Son
Available on Netflix
Maria (Valerie Bertucelli) has been through surgeries and chemotherapy for nearly a year when all treatments stop working and it becomes clear she's going to die of ovarian cancer. She remains feisty and cheerful through her ordeal, and her cheeky and candid tweets about dying make her a Twitter sensation, which leads to a television interview and media attention. She fills a handmade notebook with thoughts she wants to leave her 3-year-old son (Julian Sorin), the title's NOTES TO MY SON. Oddly, the notebook is written on screen in English, even though the rest of the film is in Spanish. Her devoted husband Fede (Esteban Lamothe) struggles to remain cheerful, sleeping on the floor of her hospital room, arranging childcare and visits from friends. In the end, as the pain grows, she reminds him and her doctor that they promised to release her from the agony when the time comes. Argentine law permits "terminal sedation," a combination of morphine for pain and sedation medication that allows the suffering patient to stay "asleep" until death comes. But because of the media attention, the hospital withdraws the offer, fearing that under scrutiny, critics will claim Maria has been euthanized, which isn't legal. One doctor says it's a "muddy" line between terminal sedation and euthanasia. Will Maria get the ending she wants?
Starring Valeria Bertuccelli, Esteban Lamothe, Mauricio Dayub
Director Carlos Sorin