Written, Produced and Directed by Debra Markowitz, THE WAITING ROOM touches on questions we all have regarding the afterlife. Do we immediately go to Heaven? Will our loved ones greet us?
This filmmaker tackles a certain question head on for those of us who have had more than one marriage. When the loss of a spouse wasn’t through divorce – but through death – who would we spend eternity with?
When the film opens up, Janet (Jennifer Jiles) is requested in the waiting room. We learn that she has been “in holding” for 10 years – waiting for her beloved husband Tim (Ciaran Sheehan) to arrive. Time seems to have no presence here – “it just feels like yesterday” – Janet states. Tim does arrive – with Ann (Heather Brittain O’Scanlon) – his current wife.
This Award Winning Short Film explains how our thoughts about death and being loyal to a loved one lost, can be irrational and selfish. We all want to believe our loved one couldn’t replace us with anyone else, that no one could possibly share what the two of us had shared. But the reality, explained in a poignant moment by Tim, is that grief is all consuming and forever life changing, “You didn’t just go to the grocery store, you didn’t just take a night class, you didn’t go on vacation – you left – for good”.
“Love is not a limited resource”, states Kiernan (Justin L. Wilson) who is Janet’s angel in the waiting room.
Lovely cinematography (Marc Riou) and score (Eros Cartechini) add to this story – along with a simplistic, yet effective, set design.
Markowitz not only asks the question – she brilliantly allows Janet to answer it – by her need to have Tim make a choice between her and Ann. Perhaps Markowitz realizes she’s answering that question for all of us.
