Activities:

Teachers and lecturers should be aware there may be students who have had to cope with a parent or close relative dying from a terminal illness (see background).

Before viewing

Depending on context teachers may wish to use the following questions for brief discussion before viewing, or after.

1. What would make a teenager want to be the carer for a parent with a terminal illness?
2. Would some people find this easier than others? What might influence this?
3. Should people be allowed to control when they die?

Teachers may wish to alert students to the themes below, or use them to frame discussion after viewing.

Three themes (see outline for related timings).

1. Deciding to become a carer for a family member with a terminal illness.
2. Coping with the illness’s progress and the responses to this by all involved.
3. Thinking about suicide, assisted suicide, rights and the law within this context.

After Viewing

1. Identify the stages by which the illness progresses, and the reactions of those involved. What would be most difficult challenges for Ben? The family are well off. Does this help? How would you sum up the way Ben and his father handle the situation? What do you feel about this?
2. Identify the different reactions to the idea of suicide, and assisted suicide, in the film and the current legal position in UK. What are students’ reactions to this? Is there disagreement or consensus? Discuss the way in which the dog is treated compared to the mother. Are any conclusions reached about this?

Key questions

1. Did Ben make the right decision to call the ambulance?
2. What will be the future impact of his action on his mother, his father, himself?
3. Reflect on the three questions in section A (above). Have opinions changed? If so, why?