Now or Never (2019)

Rebecca Franz is a young woman suffering from an incurable brain tumor. She decides to end her life and, for that purpose, goes to a hospice for assisted dying in Konstanz. The preliminary consultations are conducted on the German side of the border, while the dying takes place in Switzerland, where assisted dying is legal. To that end, the bed is moved to the Swiss part of the building. Henry, who is often bad-tempered and hungover, works for the local organization as an end-of-life companion. His boss assigns him to accompany Rebecca as she dies. First, he has to find out whether she is truly determined to go through with it. On the evening before her planned death, Rebecca wants to have one last carefree celebration, and Henry has to accompany her. The night at a club ends with her collapsing and suffering a seizure. When Henry is about to initiate her death the next day, Rebecca has changed her mind. Instead, she wants to visit a faith healer in the Swiss Alps, whom she claims to have heard about on the radio during the taxi ride from the hotel to the assisted-dying clinic, and who might be able to save her life. Rebecca insists that Henry take her there, using a letter from Henry’s late wife, Antje, as leverage. Rebecca and Henry set off together for Königstal, where they learn from the shopkeeper that the faith healer might be Schocher. Henry’s colleague Benno and Rebecca’s husband Daniel are following them; Rebecca had kept Daniel’s existence from Henry. Daniel is strongly opposed to assisted dying and wants to stop his wife from ending her life. Several Elvis Presley impersonators are also on the road because of an upcoming Elvis tribute, and the pair encounter them during their journey. When Rebecca and Henry run into Benno and Daniel, Henry introduces Benno as “the man who killed my wife.” Henry’s wife Antje died more than seven years ago; she had ALS. Henry was working as a doctor at the time, but had given up his job so he could devote himself entirely to caring for her. Benno was already an end-of-life companion then, and he obtained the lethal barbiturate for Antje on the condition that Henry be present when she took it—which, however, she did not do. Henry found her farewell letter in the pocket of her coat after she died. After her death, Henry began drinking and working as an end-of-life companion. On the way to Schocher, at a remote mountain lake, Rebecca tells Henry that she made up the faith healer because she is afraid. After spending a night in Schocher’s cabin, Henry and Daniel take Rebecca back to the lake, where Henry administers the barbiturate to her and she dies peacefully. This farewell deeply affects Henry, who had initially been very matter-of-fact and distant. The time he has spent with Rebecca has helped bring him back to life through her refreshing nature, while he has been able to ease her fear of dying.