An out-of-work cellist returns to his hometown with his wife. There, he responds to a cryptic job ad, only to find out that the work is to prepare corpses for cremation. He soon finds he has a talent for it but is too shy to tell his wife, leaving him torn between his true calling and his marriage.

The surprise winner of the 2009 Oscar® for Best Foreign Film, beating out The Class and Waltz with Bashir, Departures is a delicate, almost screwball drama—and a film that affirms life most of all. Just three years after its release, Roger Ebert added it to his “Great Movies” canon.