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Sundance Review: “Life After”

Written by: Christopher Llewellyn Reed | January 28th, 2025

Reid Davenport, director of LIFE AFTER, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Keith Wilson

Life After (Reid Davenport, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars

Director Reid Davenport (I Didn’t See You There) has cerebral palsy, which makes him an ideal documentarian to examine societal attitudes towards people with disabilities. That’s not all he takes on, however, in Life After, his latest film. Though he begins with a 40-year-old case of a woman who sought (and was denied) the right to end her life, he travels a unique path through many associated themes on his way towards a powerful conclusion. His film makes for essential viewing in this era of increasing cruelty towards those who exist outside of an arbitrary (and elusive) “normal.”

As I write this review, the chaos in the United States over executive orders related to spending, courtesy of our 47th president, have resulted in millions of people across the land unable to access Medicaid. It seems as if Davenport is more than prescient when he imagines a world in which the powers that be consider it cheaper for many to just kill themselves rather than seek medical care. That’s not all this film discusses, but it’s where it ends.

Elizabeth Bouvia and Richard Scott appear in LIFE AFTER by Reid Davenport, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Los Angeles Times

Davenport starts, however, with Elizabeth Bouvia (pronounced “Bouvé” by most) in 1983, who was then in her mid-20s and ready to die. She not only had cerebral palsy (of a severe type), but also painful arthritis that was increasingly limiting her mobility. We follow her case for a bit, including the existence she is forced to maintain in the ensuing years, accompanied by patronizing interviews of her by the likes of 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace. With no additional information about what happened to Bouvia post-1990s, Davenport pursues an investigation to discover her present whereabouts.

This leads him to her sisters, who fill in missing details (allowing him to update Bouvia’s Wikipedia page as the camera rolls). He then launches into other related topics, landing in Canada to explore that country’s Medical Assistance in Dying (or MAID) law, which allows for euthanasia in certain cases. Or in an alarming number of cases, as Davenport discovers.

Gregory Dugan appears in LIFE AFTER by Reid Davenport, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Reuters

What unfolds is a decidedly complex work that at first seems to embrace the notion of allowing suffering people to choose their exit path but then pauses to consider what that means. It’s not that Davenport can’t see the arguments for and against—he certainly can—but that he frets, and not without reason, about the eagerness with which compassion morphs into coercion. Feeling depressed? Or maybe your disability has got you down? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Death could be the answer!

A genial onscreen presence, Davenport uses not only himself and Bouvia’s siblings as subjects, but others with disabilities, too, along with journalists and experts knowledgeable about the field. By the final act, he has more than justified his opening “content advisory” warning (for discussion of suicide and more) as well as raised a bevy of issues that force us to think deeply about humanity writ large. Even if he occasionally takes on almost too much, that’s quite a feat, and quite a movie.

Julie Farrar appears in LIFE AFTER by Reid Davenport, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Roberto Drilea
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Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.

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