Social psychologist Sheldon Solomon tells us that he has seen a few dead bodies but has never seen anyone die, in Sophie Deraspe’s The Final Act (Le Dernier Acte), a documentary feature about medical assistance in dying (MAiD). The American academic provides the theoretical, psychological, and ethical backbone of this Québécois film about people who have chosen to die on their own terms, their loved ones and the professionals who help them end their lives.
Deraspe tackles the topic with extreme sensitivity, asking her subjects’ permission to record them as they die — with most, though not all, consenting. She chronicles their final months and brings us into the room as medical practitioners administer an intravenous cocktail that sedates, anesthetizes and paralyzes them, leading to the cessation of all bodily functions.
Her matter-of-fact depiction of these deaths strips them of taboo and sensationalism, yet it is neither cold nor clinical, inviting viewers to process them on their own terms. The footage of her subjects is interspersed with images of nature, choristers assembling and a mysterious vocalist whose story bookends the film, with astonishing effect. Rather than engaging in a polemic about MAiD, Deraspe invites us to view death as central to our lives, not as a problem to be solved or as something that happens “over there,” in this gentle film about going gently into the night.
This article appeared in the 2026 Oct/Nov issue.
