The Argentinian tragicomedy “Most People Die on Sundays,” which plays the Webster Film Series at Webster University on June 21 and 22, casts a dry humor eye on something few talk about: the high cost of death for middle-class families. On top of the emotional toll of loss, the film highlights the financial strain that often comes with burying a loved one.

Writer-director Iair Said takes a look at this too common experience through the eyes of an immature 30-something man who returns home to his small, observant, Jewish-Argentinian family as they face the loss of one family member, his uncle, and the looming loss of another, his father.

Yet the Argentinian-Jewish director chose to approach this serious topic through humor, in a tragicomic film with dry wit centered on the son, David (played well by Said), a pudgy, immature, unemployed, gay 30-something drifting through life while living an ex-pat life in Europe.

Recently dumped by his husband, David returns to Argentina for his uncle’s funeral at the urging of his sister Elisa (Antonia Zegers) and moves back in with his mother Dora (Rita Cortese). At the airport, he’s met by Elisa, Dora, and their aunt Silvia. The family—a small, observant Jewish Argentinean household—is stoic but supportive. They’ve long expected little from David and greet his return with a mixture of warmth and weary resignation.

Though the funeral is the official reason for his visit, another impending death—the slow decline of his comatose father—hangs heavily over Dora, now living alone.

Despite the somber premise, Said finds humor in the family’s interactions and David’s childish cluelessness. We first meet him crying over his failed marriage, not his uncle’s death. At the airport, he takes a sleeping pill before learning the flight is delayed, then awkwardly tries to borrow another from fellow passengers.

In Argentina, unprepared for the cold, he jokes about driving Elisa’s car—before admitting he doesn’t have a license but might get one while he’s home. The family takes it in stride, used to David’s lack of follow-through. He contributes nothing to household expenses, leans on his mother’s health insurance and uses her car for lessons.

The film’s title, “Most People Die on Sundays,” comes from a comment David makes. Elisa reminds him their uncle died on a Thursday—he was just buried Sunday, due to the Sabbath.

Though childish and reliant on sleeping pills, David is warmly welcomed home—not just by his mother, but by the entire small, close-knit family. He dutifully attends the funeral, then accompanies his aunt as she tries to renegotiate burial costs for her brother (the uncle) at the Jewish cemetery. He stays for Passover at his sister’s house, a seder that doubles as a birthday celebration for her young daughter.

Gradually, wrapped in the rhythms of family life, David begins to shift his focus beyond himself. The film captures this change through dry humor built around David but also the underlying warmth of his close little family.

Even at the funeral, there’s a quiet acknowledgment that another death looms—that of David’s comatose father. Nevertheless, while staying with his mother, David is in no hurry to see his comatose father, making excuses about it.

While David starts out more concerned with his own problems, he becomes aware of how his aging, but uncomplaining mother is struggling to live on her own and becomes worried about her.  As she considers taking her beloved husband off the ventilator, David and the whole family quietly support whatever choice she makes.

This warm, funny film is a true tragicomedy, and writer/director/star Said does an excellent job drawing us into the lives of this tough, close-knit Jewish family as they face a too-common dilemma shared by middle-class families anywhere.

“Most People Die on Sundays,” in Spanish with English subtitles, plays the Webster Film Series at Webster University at 7:30pm on Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22.

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