Editor’s Note: The following contains discussion of suicide and self-harm.It is tricky to visualize the afterlife, especially when it serves as the basis for a feature film. Furthermore, selling a movie about what happens to your body postmortem as a commercial property is extraordinarily challenging. The 2006 indie dramedy,Wristcutters: A Love Story, pushes the envelope by depicting the afterlife for an eclectic group of characters who took their own lives.
Between thethorny complications of death, the religious conflicts of various interpretations of the afterlife, and suicide,Wristcuttersgetting picked up by any studio was a miracle. Thanks to a surrealist vision by writer-directorGoran Dukić, this hidden gem with arich ensemble castportrayed a landscape of heaven/hell that seems all too real,making the environment more eerie than our fantastical imagining of the abstract world. Amid the human dread and hollowness of the afterlife, its denizens find strange solace and romance with each other.
Based on a short story byEtgar Keretentitled, “Kneller’s Happy Campers,“Wristcutters: A Love Storypremiered at the ideal place for any off-kilter indie production: the Sundance Film Festival. It wasn’t until a year later, in the fall of 2007, that the film was released to theaters. This black comedy, Goran Dukić’s debut feature film, follows a peculiar sector of the afterlife serving as a way-station for the deceased. Specifically, this desolate area is reserved for those who took their own lives. After a devastating breakup, Zia (Patrick Fugit) slits his wrist, sending him to this run-down land where he lives in a crummy apartment and works a menial job. Zia learns that his ex-girlfriend, Desiree (Leslie Bibb), took her own life due to the trauma caused by his death, indicating that she is residing in this world. He befriends a former Russian guitarist, Eugene (Shea Whigham), and they embark on a road trip to discover Desiree’s whereabouts. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker, Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon), who claims she has been wrongfully sent to this afterlife.
As with any indie production with a shoestring budget, Goran Dukić, an unknown writer-director whose claim to fame was in short films, had to hustle to realize his vision. He waslucky to meet Etgar Keret, the author ofWristcutters' source material, through a mutual friend.Short on money, Dukićasked Keret if he could lend him the rights to his novella for free.While Keret had offers from Germany and France, he told Dukić that if he wrote a script to his liking, he would grant him the rights to “Kneller’s Happy Campers.” With the film rights in his possession, Dukić began production onWristcutters,which had a paltry $1 million budget. According to Dukić, the toughest challenge was creating this alternate universe. “Most locations are exactly how we found them,” the director said, shooting in downtown Los Angeles and the surrounding desert areas.
‘Wristcutters’ Features a Gritty and Grounded Depiction of the Afterlife
Wristcuttersdiffers from the crop of afterlife comedies such asWarren Beatty’sHeaven Can WaitandAlbert Brooks’Defending Your Life, where life after death and the viable opportunities it grants its residents are idyllic. In Brooks' case, he envisions the afterlife as a luxurious retirement community in Florida to underline his satirical commentary on consumerist American values. The film evencribs fromBeetlejuice, as the cause of each inhabitant’s death leaves a permanent mark on their body. Dukić leans into the sheer misery of being placed in this downtrodden world. Between the grubby interiors and the rough terrain, the afterlife looks a lot more likeMad Maxthan anyone would want to imagine.
The 10 Most Disturbing Dark Comedy Movies, Ranked
Viewer discretion advised.
The world is eerily similar to our reality,but it’s tainted just enough to seem like a dystopia. Suicide victims being transported to a wasteland rather than our vision of heaven as a glossy utopia reflects society’s taboo relationship with mental health and suicide. While we’re more mental health-conscious today, there was a time, not too long ago, when suicidal tendencies were viewed callously. Many faiths interpret suicide as a sin, and the placement of these characters in a desolate world demonstrates the dishonorable treatment of these victims.
The visual language ofWristcuttersis essential to unlocking the psyche of these emotionally battered characters, ones who are physically incapable of smiling in the afterlife. The film has a grainy aesthetic with bleached-out colors,taking on the likeness of a cloud constantly hanging over you. Whenever characters recount a memory during their lifetime, the film brightens with saturated colors and highly expressive imagery, like something out of a commercial. InWristcutters, the abstract and spiritual world is painted as reality, and reality is painted as heightened and artificial. Their jaded worldview does not wash away upon entering the realms of the afterlife, an environment thought to cleanse souls upon leaving the body. Visualizing the afterlife withdocumentary-like grittinesssuggests that a gloomy and dyspeptic worldview was a mundane outlook on life for these characters.
What Does ‘Wristcutters’ Say About Life After Death?
With any faith, salvation is a central focus point, both while living and after death. Zia’s path to redemption is tracking down his lost lover and redeeming their relationship beyond the grave. His journey is a double-edged sword, as it optimistically shows that the dead have a soul, butit also underlines his inability to move on from the past, which was responsible for his tragic self-inflicted death.Eugene’s entire family died by suicide, and now they all live with him in the afterlife.Their unfortunate deathswere motivated by the trauma of each other’s deaths. Eugene vows to help out his new friend in Zia so that he can find some semblance of closure. Their road trip detours upon encountering Kneller (Tom Waits), an eccentric commune leader whose camp performs minor miracles, such as levitation and reverse gravity. He eventually reveals himself to be an undercover agent working for the “people in charge” — the body responsible for transporting people to this world who Mikal wishes to connect with.
As a film about an alternate life where humanity is marginalized, it may seem forceful forWristcuttersto find hopefulness, but it is subtitled as a “love story,” after all. Kneller, when looking through Zia’s files in the office of the People of Charge, decides to return him to reality. With this second chance, Zia ends up on a hospital bed rather than an autopsy bed. Across from him is Mikal, whose death was proven to be an accidental overdose and not a suicide. Goran Dukić, for better or worse, resorts to fantasy to conclude his surrealist story about the afterlife as a gritty dystopia. The history ofafterlife-set comedies and dramasisabout self-redemption rather than adhering to the logic or science of their respective afterlife.Wristcuttersis a story about finding oneself — a daring and hazy task for people without a foot in reality.
Wristcutters: A Love Storyis available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Watch on Prime Video
