Feature debut of writer/director Xavier Seron, Death by Death transforms hypochondria into high art in this tender, absurdist black comedy whose French-language title colloquially translates as “I’ve Been Trying To Tell You.” Seron focuses his tale on the relationship of anxious, part-time actor Michel and his ailing, overly attached mother, who has been told that she is living on borrowed time, but has no intention of dying.
Sensitive to the point of neurosis and full of phobias, Michel feels like he’s surrounded by death. Even his auditions call for him to die. Moreover, he’s finding it difficult to balance his time between the filial duty his bewigged, cat-loving, wine-swigging mother demands, and satisfying his sexually enthusiastic girlfriend. It’s no wonder that he suddenly seems to develop some symptoms very similar to those plaguing his mother.