Measures for a Funeral – TIFF 2024
September 5 to September 15, 2024
PROGRAMME
Centrepiece
A young woman researches the history of Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow as a distraction of the imminant death of her mother in Measures for a Funeral. For her PhD thesis, Audrey Benac (Deragh Campbell) has been researching Kathleen Parlow, a Canadian violinist from the early 20th century, who has been lost to history. Audrey’s research is her way to distract herself from the imminant death of her mother, bitter over a failed music career, who instructs Audrey to burn her father’s prized violin.
Measures for a Funeral Synopsis
Measures for a Funeral is drama co-writteen and directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz and latest in the series of films, dating back to 2016’s Never Eat Alone, which stars Deragh Campbell (Anne at 13,000 Ft.) as the character of Audrey Benac. As Audrey’s mother is on the verge of dying, she focuses on her research into the violinist Katheen Parlow. The fictional story blends with reality, as the film climaxes with the first Canadian performance of Johan Halvorsen’s violin concerto, op. 28, a piece that was dedicated to Parlow.
My Thoughts on Measures for a Funeral
The plot of Measures for a Funeral sees Deragh Campbell‘s Audrey Benac travel travel from Toronto to London to Oslo, under the pretense of research for her PhD thesis, but more as a way to escape personal hardships, such as a recent break-up and the imminent death of Audrey’s mother. Built around narrated journal entries by Kathleen Parlow, Measures for a Funeral is often a very meditative film about how music can ben a way to connect with the past. However, the film does run a little long at a running time of 2h22m, a good chunk of which is spent on the concerto performance that concludes the film.
