Walter Carter Funeral Home is a 130-year-old business in Sydney Australia that is facing the economic reality of consolidation in the funeral home business. In order to stay alive, Walter Carter joins forces with another family owned funeral home, which means that the company will survive, but it also means the close-knit team is torn apart. The Secret Life of Death tells the story a year of turmoil, change, and death.
The documentary starts out by introducing Jasmine, the funeral director who takes care of the bodies, and Amber who takes care of the bodies. The women are close, but both believes they have the best job as Jasmine has no desire to take care of the bodies and Amber flat out says that “Dead bodies are her favorite people.” When the merger is announced, the front of the house staff, including Amber and the owner Dale, stay together, but Amber is forced to move to another location an hour away, which breaks up the team and causes angst.
As this is a show about the funeral industry, it is not surprising that funerals figure prominently in the show. A celebration of life for an American musician, a more solemn ceremony for a Chinese man, and images from a Nigerian celebratory funeral are featured throughout the documentary. However, the most heartbreaking funeral of the show is that for Odette. Odette is a 46 year old woman with breast cancer who works with Richard, one of the funeral directors from Walter Carter, to plan her funerals. She wants a horse drawn hearse, doves released, and her drag queen friends to show up as themselves. And she doesn’t want the “fucking ugly” ties that Walter Carter’s personnel wear. Richard grows closer to her as he plans her funeral and at the end of the documentary we find out she has died.
Richard, along with Jasmine, pick up her body and take it to Amber to take care of. From there, it is off to the venue she personally chose for her funeral and we see her funeral play out exactly as she envisioned it, right down to her gold Christian Louboutin placed on her white coffin.
Overall this documentary perfectly captured the compassion and diligence of a modern day funeral home without being too maudlin.
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