Veronika Deklava (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is stuck in a soul-sapping Manhattan financial job, has no personal life to speak of, and is morbidly depressed every hour of the day. Shed like to permanently check out of the rat race, so one particularly awful evening, she decides to take a handful of pills with a bottle-of-whiskey chaser. She awakes at an upstate New York mental hospital, where creepily soft-spoken psychiatrist Dr. Blake (David Thewlis) informs her that her botched suicide attempt caused an aneurysm in her heart. At best, she has a few weeks to live. During this time she learns to find the beauty of little things and becomes close to several people who change her attitude and view of the world. Ultimately, the film comes to the conclusion that life is indeed worth living. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Paulo Coelho and directed by Emily Young, Veronika Decides To Die has feeling and depth in spades. It's an extremely flawed film but it'll give you something to think about nonetheless.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
