It is about Lipsett, but aims to unveil the problem of “suicide” and “depression” in general and the young people’s occasional destroying desire to morbidly imitate their heroes and icons, who died young (like the suicides of Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain and Sarah Kane, just to name a few).
It doesn’t make Lipsett a hero. It simply “deconstructs” the life of a talented, too early lionized young filmmaker and his last days.
In his films, Canadian filmmaker Arthur Lipsett used a collage style to comment on the fragmented nature of modern society, but his films were more of a reflection of his own struggle to find an identity. As his world became increasingly disjointed and incoherent (one where his mother had committed suicide) wasn’t death the only natural road to freedom? Did his sense of self shatter so completely that the only way to restore balance and wholeness was through suicide?
The Facts
To most people Arthur Lipsett will always be an enigma. He was unique. His idiosyncrasies and bred myths were so strong that they pass on, like fairy-tales.
Is suicide really so bad? Not if you asked Arthur Lipsett. Of course, you can’t ask him because he’s dead. He committed suicide in 1986. Some would call him a coward, loser, druggie, or loonie. But is there a time when suicide makes sense? If life offers nothing beyond the final breath, why sit through a whole movie you’re not enjoying? Hell, if the movie stinks, why bother?
Lipsett’s last years were painful. Much of his time was spent in and out of the Montreal Jewish General Hospital’s psychiatric ward. Having ceased documenting life on film, perhaps he felt that he had said what he had to say. And only one question remained: why should life go on?
