Guy Belliveau was 13 years old when his neighbour, a worker in the funeral industry, made him an offer that would change everything: “Would you like to mow the lawn at the cemetery? From the top of his little tractor, he observed the burials with overflowing fascination. “I really wanted to know how it was going in the funeral home. After the first time I attended an embalming, it never left my mind again,” he says.
The funeral director has been practicing his profession for 34 years in a funeral home in Moncton, New Brunswick. With so many years of experience comes his share of anecdotes and reflections on death, which he generously serves us in Georges Hannan’s documentary Undertaker – Life is beautiful!
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE NFB
Cédric Gautreau, one of the very endearing protagonists of Undertaker – Life is beautiful!
It’s in interview Zoom, the screen of our interlocutors installed in nothing less than a coffin, that we meet Georges Hannan and Guy Belliveau. “Are you comfortable?” “, launches the director by moving the cushions, suggesting the humor that fills the film. “But beware: I am not laughing at death. I laugh at our relationship with death,” says Georges Hannan.
Disappearing rituals
” Word grief comes from the Latin of pain. This pain is going to happen to you, whether you like it or not. So you have to learn how to manage it,” says Georges Hannan. And this is among other things where the protagonists of his documentary come in, whom the director describes as “true philosophers”.
PHOTO BERNARD FOUGÈRES, PROVIDED BY THE NFB
Director Georges Hannan
“Initially, I saw thanatologists and funeral homes as those who take over when the health system can no longer do anything. I finally realized that they are, in a way, an integral part of the system. They take care of the bereavement of a family, of a village… they take care of those who are left behind! »
While religion has long accompanied the bereaved, these trades now act more as a resource. And face a great challenge, that of rehabilitating mourning.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE NFB
Funeral directors coordinate all aspects of funeral services.
Why do we take less and less time to go through this ordeal? “Do you take the time to have supper for an hour every evening? », Launches Guy Belliveau, tit for tat. “We don’t take the time for much anymore,” he said. We reject everything. But mourning will always be ahead of us, as long as we haven’t gone through it. »
The thanatologist is unequivocal: death is taboo. To better live with this reality, why not accept it? “We tell the children that the dead are sleeping…afterwards, the children are afraid to fall asleep because they think they are going to gather themselves in a coffin, too. »
Thinking about death… to live better!
Guy Belliveau remembers a striking death, which had upset the young 18-year-old professional that he was, in the first months of his career. “There was the death of a 7-year-old girl… I said to myself ‟phew, that’s young”. My boss had pointed out to me: ‟You will see, there are mortalities of all ages.” You never know when it can happen, you have to enjoy life!” »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE NFB
Georges Hannan had fun sprinkling his film with nods to the symbols of death.
“To live well, you have to learn to die. This adage resonated strongly with Georges Hannan during the shooting of his film. “It’s the only way to appreciate life at its fair value,” he exclaims. And its speakers prove it by reflecting aloud on the ultimate journey with comforting wisdom.
Undertaker – Life is beautiful! will be presented as part of Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma on Sunday, February 26 at 8:45 p.m. at the Cineplex Odéon in the Latin Quarter.
Documentary
Undertaker – Life is beautiful!
George Hannan
52 minutes