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• Cinando
• 4 results
• Lumiere
• Admissions in 12 European countries and in the US
• Cineuropa

Year of production : 2012

Director(s) : Uberto PASOLINI
Writer(s) : Uberto PASOLINI
Cast : Eddie MARSAN, Joanne FROGGATT

Producer(s) : Uberto PASOLINI (Redwave Films), Felix FOSSEN (Redwave Films), Christopher SIMON (Redwave Films)

John May is a council worker whose job is to find the next of kin of those who have died alone. Meticulous to the point of obsession, he goes beyond the call of duty to see a job through. Only when all leads have been checked and all doors shut will he organise the funeral of his forgotten “clients”, for whom he chooses the appropriate music and writes eulogies, which no one but him will hear.
His life is neat, clam and ordered till his new case, the elderly alcoholic called Billy Stoke has been found dead. When May visits the flat to search for clues to his neighbour’s life, he sees the mirror image of his own – except that Stoke’s is full of rubbish bags and dirty dishes. As May starts to research Billy Stoke’s life his boss brings devastating news: the department is being downsized, and John May is being made redundant. What will he do without his job, without his routine?
For the moment though, John May’s most pressing concern is his last case and he begs his boss for a few extra days to finish it. Those who knew Stoke paint the picture of a larger-than-life personality who inspired love and exasperation in equal measure. Most significantly, his investigations lead him to Billy Stoke’s estranged daughter, Kelly, who Billy had abandoned when still a child; the two lonely souls are naturally drawn to each other. As he liberates himself from the routines that have ruled his life, John finally starts living life – with all of its exciting and dangerous unpredictability…