Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002)

The fact that this film is charming and funny shouldn't put you off. The humour is as dry as the best martini. Doctor to Harper: Was your father unhappy? Harper: Noooo - he always whistled at breakfast. Somehow this non sequitur cracks me up. It typifies so much of the dialogue each line of which slides past the other on a slightly different set of tram lines - close but not touching. So if this is Danish humour bring on the Union of Scotland and Denmark. And the women in this film - oh dear, the women. They are all extraordinarily manipulative, in the nicest possible way. Some of them are more desperate than others, their hair giving them away. One of them has devised a very seductive cleaning technique which involves climbing on desks and showing a nice section of leg. Well, whatever works! In the end it's a case of grow up or die and Wilbur makes his choice. I wonder whether Bill Forsyth has seen this movie?

Just watched this film for the first time this evening mainly because the brilliant Julia Davis was listed as being in the film. It took about 20 minutes for me to get into the general idea of the characters but after that I was lost in the world of the unfortunate situation the brothers had found themselves in.An amazing film. A real weepy. Shirley Henderson played a blinder. Can't say I was surprised after seeing her in Dirty, Filthy Love but I never recognise her name as an actress. I will do from now on.The only thing I wasn't sure about (ironically) was Julia Davis pretending to be Scottish. Her desperate character still comes across but the accent is a little dodgy to say the least.

"Wilbur wants to kill himself" is a (so)moving parable about how easy is to let yourself die when everything seems meaningless and how hard is to live when a disease is mining you. Wilbur looks like a nice guy, the kind of man women like, he's good-looking, he has a brother who loves him... it doesn't seem like his existence is that miserable. Nevertheless he wants to leave this world, that's one of men's last rights so he'll try to kill himself in any possible way. On the contrary, his brother Harbour is full of life, he's an enthusiastic person, he's in love and he's just get married... how ironic, he has an incurable cancer, but that won't stop him from clinging to life till the last consequences. Scherfig has moved away from the stupid DOGMA corset, and creates a perfect balance between the smile and the crying, tenderness and misanthropy, between life and death. She reduces the roughness of the hardest moments with a sarcastic turn or relying on the darkest sense of humor (that's always the best antidote against tragedy). Step by step she shows Wilbur the right way (and to all of us). No moral judgments, no dogmatism... there's no need to. Wilbur is a celebration of life, but is also a show of respect for those who don't wanna live anymore. Eventually it is a celebration of the best cinema: the one that makes you feel better. *My rate: 8.5/10

This film was terrible. Really really bad.i just read a comment saying that you'll be enriched. if anyone ever says this about a film like this it means that you have to watch a slow boring film which is absolute drivel.Its about a Scottish guy - very unlikeable - in fact its not really about anything - its an absolute snooze.If you think of yourself as a film critic you could analyze it and say oh yes its wonderful but this film was terrible. Its just pointless, not about anything - just some boring mean Scottish guy who attempts to kill himself. Great! I mean watch a good film not some arty crap.And - enriched! I mean i cant remember much of this film because i saw it a while ago and its totally unmemorable but i think he meets a girl and decides to put off killing himself for a bit.i don't know about you but that didn't make me jump up and say OK I'm gonna grab life by the balls , what an inspiring film! its just a boring load of crap. absolute drivel.1 out of 10.