“Tuesday” is a surprising story about a mother’s fight with death—literally a fight with death—to save her dying teenage daughter. Death appears in the form of a wise talking parrot, trying to explain why everyone and everything must die. The production is written and directed by Daina O. Pusić.
Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is the overworked single mother dealing with a terminally ill teenager Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), whom she loves so much that she refuses to imagine her life without her.
Death literally flies in—visually represented by a world-weary macaw that can shrink or grow to a massive size—and is voiced by Arinzé Kene (“I’m Your Woman”).
The movie begins with an “eye of God” shot appearing to be filmed high above the planet. It then finds an eye and stays focused there. But it’s not a human eye, or even one of a loving guardian angel.
This “all-feeling” eye belongs to Death, who, as a tiny macaw, suffers from headaches due to hearing the requests of those suffering and their pleas (praying, screaming, chanting) for the release that only death can provide. In a blink, Death grows huge and moves with purpose as it attends to the requests of those who are suffering terribly. It travels through the streets of cities, into the homes of people scheduled to die. This is Death’s job. The bird is constantly surrounded by the cacophony of voices in its head—the sound of pain. And then it hears Tuesday, struggling to breathe and very close to dying.
Tuesday, who has been sick for years, has a young, dedicated home nurse (Leah Harvey) who seems to spend more quality time with her than does her mother, Zora. Zora is suffering in a myriad of ways, including creating ways to avoid any level of real intimacy.
When the “bird” enters Tuesday’s life, she understands why it’s there. They develop such a bond that Death starts to talk, something it hasn’t done in a very long time. When Tuesday offers the filthy bird a bath, Death shrinks to about an inch and sticks its head under the running water from the faucet.
Clean and refreshed, its magnificent orange-and-scarlet hue can be seen. Death is not without manners and appreciates the quiet it experiences with Tuesday—a respite from the nonstop soundtrack of suffering souls crying for mercy and relief.
But still, it is Death, and it has a job to do. Tuesday understands. Although she’s in pain and seems to be looking forward to peace, leaving her mother is what plagues her. How can she leave, knowing it will devastate her mother?
She asks Death to allow her to say a final goodbye to her mother. She makes the call, but Zora doesn’t pick up her phone. It isn’t that Zora is busy; she’s unemployed, drifting around her adopted city, London, selling things from their house to make extra money.
When Zora finally gets home, she refuses to speak directly to her daughter. She tries to push it off until the next day, but Tuesday knows that for her, there won’t be a tomorrow. With no other options, Death is waiting.
I won’t offer any spoilers, but Zora meets Death and devours it whole, transforming herself and Death into something entirely new.
An A24, BBC Film, BFI, Wild Swim Films, Gingerbread Pictures Production, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew, Leah Harvey, and Arinzé Kene. Directed and written by Daina O. Pusić. Produced by Helen Gladders, Ivana MacKinnon, and Oliver Roskill. Rated R; 1 hour 51 minutes.
