Culture Club

Although living what looks like a successful life, Veronika (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is depressed and cannot find meaning in her existence. Intending suicide, she takes an overdose, blaming her attempted suicide on the failure of the world to recognize what is "real". She wakes inside an exclusive and expensive mental asylum only to learn that the overdose has left her prone to an aneurysm that will kill her in a matter of weeks.

At first, Veronika wants only to accelerate the process, and even a visit by her adoptive parents fails to rekindle her will to live. Her parents love her, but while they are prepared to spend their dwindling resources to get her what help they can (not knowing her death is imminent anyway), they don't truly understand her. They discouraged her from accepting a full musical scholarship at Juilliard because they wanted her to get a degree that could earn her a living. They do not see how she despairs at their constraints.

In spite of herself and in spite of her disappointment with her materialistic life, Veronika finds renewed purpose through playing the asylum's piano and through observing and then connecting with the schizophrenic Edward (Jonathan Tucker). Not only does she recover her own will to live, Veronika helps Edward come out of his catatonic state, and the pair soon 'escape' (Dr Blake, looking out his window, observes them escaping, but doesn't send for anyone to bring them back) from the asylum together, determined to enjoy Veronika's final days as a couple.

Veronika does not know that her aneurysm is the invention of her unorthodox psychiatrist Dr. Blake (David Thewlis), who is testing his theory that convincing her she has only weeks to live will restore her to health and cure her desire to commit suicide. He explains his treatment through letter to his estranged wife, a colleague from the asylum. Most people who attempt suicide repeat their attempts until successful.[citation needed] As long as she does not know the truth, he theorizes, she will consider each day as if it might be her last and thus treasure it. This is, he notes, actually true, as nobody knows when their end will come.

When Veronika drifts off one morning on a bench at sunrise, Edward believes he has lost her, but his grief transforms to joy when she wakes. Celebrating what they believe might be one more day, the pair embrace and walk happily on the beach in the morning light, laughing and hold hands.

Vier Essays, die kurz vor seinem Tod geschrieben wurden und 2015 bei Rowohlt erschienen.
Ein dünnes Büchlein, passt in jede Damen- oder HerrenSacko-Tasche.

Auf der Rückseite des Büchleins zu lesen:

"Ich kann nicht behaupten, ohne Furcht zu sein. Doch mein vorherrschendes Gefühl ist das der Dankbarkeit. Ich habe geliebt und wurde gelieb, ich habe viel bekommen und ein wenig zurückgegeben; ich habe gelesen und ferne Länder bereist und gedacht und geschrieben.....
Vor allem aber war ich ein fühlendes Wesen, ein denkendes Tier auf diesem schönen Planeten, und schon das allein war ein wunderbares Privileg und Abenteuer."

Siehe auch: "On the move" - die Autobiographie des Neurologen Oliver Sacks
 

Once a cared-for patient and now a caregiver himself, Scott Williams highlights the invaluable role of informal caregivers -- those friends and relatives who, out of love, go the extra mile for patients in need. From personal care to advocacy to emotional support, unpaid caregivers form the invisible backbone of health and social systems all over the world, Williams says -- and without them, these systems would crumble. "How can we make sure that their value to patients and society is recognized?" he asks.