The finality and the limits of human sufferring: an interpretation of Amour by Michael Haneke

Abstract

This paper analyzes the issue of the death with dignity, having as starting point Michael Haneke's film, Amour. Taking that movie as main reference, it is proposed a critical reflection concerning the place of the sufferings and pains that precede death in contemporary society; also using for this purpose works such as Seneca´s Letters to Lucilius, Norbert Elias' The Loneliness of the Dying, and the last book published by André Gorz, Letter to D. This article aims to give visibility to something that contemporary society persists in hiding: the suffering that precedes death; but it also aims to emphasize the importance that loving relationships, in this case the conjugal love, can have in that process.