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.

This is, he notes, actually true, as nobody knows when their end will come. 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. He explains his treatment through letter to his estranged wife, a colleague from the asylum. Blake, 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. Veronika does not know that her aneurysm is the invention of her unorthodox psychiatrist Dr. Blake, looking out his window, observes them escaping, but does not send for anyone to bring them back) from the asylum together, determined to enjoy Veronika's final days as a couple. Not only does she recover her own will to live, Veronika helps bring Edward out of his catatonic state, and the pair soon 'escape' (Dr. 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. They do not see how she despairs at their constraints.

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.

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 do not truly understand her.

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.Īt first, Veronika wants only to accelerate the process, and even a visit by her adoptive parents fails to rekindle her will to live. Intending suicide, she takes an overdose, blaming her attempted suicide on the failure of the world to recognize what is 'real'. While the novel originally takes place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the film is set in New York City.ĭespite a seemingly successful life, 30-something Veronika Deklava is depressed and cannot find meaning in her existence. It stars Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role, with Jonathan Tucker, Florencia Lozano, Melissa Leo, David Thewlis, and Erika Christensen appearing as supporting characters. Veronika Decides to Die is a 2009 American psychological drama film directed by Emily Young from a screenplay by Roberta Hanley and Larry Gross, based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Paulo Coelho.

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