Death is just as unfair as it is inevitable, and grief is its unwelcome partner. When we lose someone (or something), “getting over it” is never the quick answer to loss, which is why Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross pieced together the Five Stages of Grief. These stages are the underlying story of director Gabriela Tollman and co-writer Evelyne Tollman’s Somebody’s Mother. They also star in their film.
Claire (Gabriela Tolman) is frantically calling her sister Anna (Evelyne Tollman) to come over. The anxiety-ridden Claire says she doesn’t feel like her body is her own, and her heart can’t breathe. Anna, who has her problems at home, arrives to aid her sister.
“The anxiety-ridden Claire says she doesn’t feel like her body is her own, and her heart can’t breathe.”
Next, we see Claire and Anna attending what appears to be a trauma support group. Here we learn that Claire recently lost her baby boy, who died of an infection that overwhelmed his little body. She describes the pain her son experienced while he was on life support and the freedom that came when he was taken off of the machines. Claire loved her infant child dearly, and now we walk along with her through the grieving process.
In stark contrast, Anna shares about how she’s having problems emotionally connecting with her son. She saw having children as the next logical phase in life, and yet, she feels distant from hers. She knows that it isn’t healthy, but that’s the way things are.
"…‘getting over it’ is never the quick answer to loss…"
