Limitless (2022): Season 1, Episode 6 - Acceptance - full transcript
Chris' quest for eternal youth fast forwards him to the end of his life.
Switch it
on. Switch it on...
Impose your will on the sea.
He's at 145.
This is double his heart rate.
Over the past year,
I've been exploring the
science of living longer.
Doing everything I
can to hold back time.
But whatever I do, sooner or
later, aging and death will win.
So, what am I going
to do about that?
You're gonna tie me up.
This wasn't... this wasn't
in the initial contract.
Super attractive.
Okay, Chris. We are gonna
attach the weights to it.
Apparently, this is
what I'm going to do about it.
This fashion disaster is what's
called an age simulation suit.
Designed at MIT,
it's been precisely
calibrated to my physique.
The bungees restrict
my movements.
And I'll be carrying an extra
30 pounds around with me.
And these shoes will
make me unbalanced.
I'm doing all this, so
that I can experience
how my body will feel
in 50 years' time.
I'm really curious to
see how you look at 87.
And my wife, Elsa,
is a little too interested.
Hey, you're into this suit,
aren't you? This is...
- Just leave it like that.
- I can wear this on date night.
"No, no, no, don't put
the fireman suit on.
- Put the... the aging suit on."
- Exactly! Put the aging suit...
Counterintuitively,
longevity scientists
actually believe that a key
to the longest, healthiest life
might not be to resist aging,
but to embrace it.
You're
gonna lose your hearing.
You look
ridiculous.
So, I'm finishing my fight to
stay young, by learning how to get old.
You're gonna lose
a little bit of your vision.
This sucks, by the way.
Okay, Chris.
Brutal.
- How you feeling?
- Old.
Okay,
rolling through. Rolling.
All
on the rehearsal.
All I've been told
is that I'm about to jump
forward 50 years into the future
and spend the next three days
living the life of an octogenarian.
Move to
reception, thank you.
The architect of
this strange challenge
is Dr. BJ Miller.
A world-renowned
palliative care physician.
His work centers on unlocking
the transformative power
of accepting aging and death.
Dying offers us something,
we can change how we see it, what
we do with it, how we play with it.
Chris is about to take part
in a truly unique experiment.
Ready, my old man?
I don't know. I mean, ask me
in three days' time, maybe.
We are doing something
bold and novel here.
We're going to combine
the arts and sciences
to create a completely
immersive world for Chris.
It's a constructed world
of a retirement community.
And then, at the end of
three days at Sunset Pines...
we're going to kill
Chris Hemsworth.
Slow down! Why are you driving so fast?
It's okay. We'll get there.
Maybe you should let me drive.
No way!
I can't see or hear anything.
Welcome to Sunset Pines.
This is my new home, huh?
New best friend.
So, finally, here we are. And
this is what I've been waiting for.
This is my opportunity
to beat aging.
Hello.
How hard that can be?
Chris doesn't seem very worried, but
I think he's underestimated old age.
I think he's going to probably want
to get out of there as soon as he can.
This is it.
Okay.
- Elsa.
- Hey. Can you see me?
Where we going?
- Oh, look at this. Hello. Hello.
- How are ya?
Chris. Pleasure, buddy.
Nice to meet you.
I'm BJ. How's the
suit feeling, my guy?
A little heavy and slower
than I used to be, but...
- Right on. That's the idea.
- That the idea.
So, that's the first
part of this immersion.
The second part
is... is this place.
- Yeah.
- Sunset Pines.
So, it's a retirement
village made just for you.
All right.
This is a three-day
piece of immersive theater.
It's going to be a
little bit surreal.
But there's something
very real about surreal.
Yay!
All the older people that he's
meeting along the way are entirely real.
And they're there for
Chris to interact with
and to befriend
and to relate with.
Aw!
But the staff of Sunset
Pines, the carers are actors.
They are going to treat Chris
as though he is an 87-year-old.
They will not break character.
Apologies for the interruption,
Dr. Miller. Welcome,
Mr. Hemsworth, to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
My name is Sofia. I'm
one of the carers here.
I'm going to take you
in for orientation.
So, I'd like to ask you
to say your goodbyes now.
- See you later.
- See you later.
All right.
Now, are you happy to walk
or would you like a chair?
- Yeah, I'm okay to walk.
- Okay, no problem.
Now, it can be a little
bit of an adjustment period
here at Sunset Pines.
So, it's totally normal
to feel a little bit
out of place at first,
but I can assure you,
our community are very
welcoming and supportive.
There is a handrail there.
I'll just ask you to use that.
Yep, that's it. All
right. Are you okay?
- I'm good, thanks.
- Yeah?
Hey!
- Joy is gonna get you all checked in.
- All right.
And then you'll be shown
up to your apartment.
I mean, this
is a wild experience.
I'm kind of trying to piece it
together as I go, but it's...
It's just kind of weird.
- Hi, Joy.
- Hello.
This is Mr. Hemsworth. He's
one of our newest residents.
Hello, Mr. Hemsworth.
Welcome to Sunset Pines where we
live every day to the fullest.
- Cool.
- So, I'll... I'll put you into our system.
So, if you can just
give me a moment.
All right, so, I would
just need this...
Wearing the suit, it's just
horrible, really uncomfortable.
Everything is heavy.
And I find myself
feeling very restricted.
And then, you know, the
lack of vision, hearing,
I find myself missing 20 to 30
percent of what's being said.
I just need you to look directly
at the lens, please. All done.
It feels really
isolating because everything is,
you know, feels
somewhat closed off.
How you doing?
What was that?
- How you doing?
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- I'm feeling a little disorientated.
- Right.
Can't really see properly
or hear properly.
- Well, that's exactly the idea, right?
- Okay.
A big part of the reason
to give him this experience
is we are living amidst an epidemic
of denial that we are denying aging,
older age and we are denying
death. It's a kind of stress.
It's bad for our blood pressure,
it's bad for our hormonal lives,
it's bad for our neurochemistry.
In... in this way, there's a
physiologic effect directly
on our bodies. And this
stress can shorten a life.
Increasingly we are seeing
multiple peer-reviewed studies
that suggest that if we can
actually embrace that reality,
if you can find a way to accept
it and to accommodate being older
that you'll be happier, less depressed,
and maybe you'll actually live longer,
and not by just a day or two but
years... years longer, potentially.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
Make sense?
Okay, looks like you're ready.
We have your ID printed out.
So, if you can just double-check
that all your details are correct,
date of birth and
spelling of your name.
Yeah, the spelling is all right.
I don't know about that photo.
What happened to me?
That's you, brother.
That beautiful old man.
- Wow.
- Well.
It's been a rough 50 years.
Do you need help
putting on that lanyard?
I'm just gonna fit it over
my giant head. There we go.
Yes!
There we are.
It's official. You are
a new resident. Michael.
Mr. Hemsworth, how you doing?
I'm Michael. I'm a carer here.
- How are ya?
- Welcome to Sunset Pines.
- Thank you.
- Where we live...
Where we live every
day to the fullest.
Great ID photo, man.
- Thanks.
- Where we going?
- Apartment nine, spruce.
- Spruce.
- Spruce, eh?
- They're nice suites, dude.
So, over the next few days,
we are going to leap Chris forward
50 years and introduce him to
an accelerated version of aging.
You like croquet?
- Nah, not really.
- Oh, fair enough.
So, he can have a little bit of
a taste of not just as an idea
but a visceral way, he can
touch what it feels like
to be an elder and he can begin
to touch what it feels like
to be at the edge of life
and at the end of life.
Hang on, Fred.
And things are only going
to get weirder from here.
Never.
Watch out, ladies. Fresh
meat coming through.
- Good morning.
- Come on, Chris.
All right, mate. It's a
great environment here.
It's really friendly.
- All right. Welcome.
- Thank you.
- How are you, Fran?
- I'm ready to go.
We'll circle back
and say hi later.
Keep away from that woman, okay?
- Yeah.
- She's a deadly card player.
Oh, I'm not much of a
card player, so I'll stay away.
Keep away from her then.
Ian, how you doing?
- Hello. How are you?
- Hello, welcome.
You can pretty much
roam wherever you want here.
Apart from that there. You
don't need to worry about that.
- That's off limits.
- Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, but, this is it.
Your home now, okay?
- Here I am.
- That's you.
Huh, what
do you think of this?
Wow.
Take a trip down memory lane.
I got old quick.
My older brother looks
the youngest.
That's, uh... That's crazy.
Joy mentioned you
used to do some acting.
Yeah. I don't think I'd be doing
it till my hair looks like that.
I thought it was like
local theater, but like...
- Mostly local theater.
- Nice job.
We got your books
there as well. So...
Thorever!
Your wife dropped off
some of the other stuff as well.
So, we just want to make
it feel like a home to you.
So, looking around,
does this feel all right to you?
Feel like it could be home?
I think it feels a
little lonely, doesn't it?
Yeah?
It feels a bit like
a hospital, you know?
Yeah.
It's...
Everything up until this
point has felt like theater.
It has been quite fun...
and then when I find
myself in my room,
it kind of begins to
hit home a bit more
and has a bit more weight to it.
Yeah, interesting.
Chris, I'm gonna chuck
this bag down, all right,
and then we're gonna move
on to meet Gary, all right?
He's you're moving buddy.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
He's gonna show you awesome activities.
He's a nice guy, a master of Tai Chi.
- Cool.
- Yeah.
Gary's a bit
of a legend around here.
So, be careful if he
challenges you in anything.
Oh, yeah. I've got a bit of
a competitive spirit myself.
Gary. how you doing?
- Oh, good. Thanks.
- It's your new neighbor. It's Christopher.
- Hello.
- Oh, hi, Chris. Welcome to Sunset Pine.
- Oh, thank you.
- This is the paradise for retirement.
Is it?
What... What's the best
thing around here to do?
Ah! We have that
traditional bingo.
- Bingo?
- Bingo!
- All right.
- Yeah.
Bit of a workout for the mind.
Bingo is not as... Not as
physically challenging.
Then, if you like, we do have a ping-pong,
you know, or workout in the gym.
- Yeah.
- And also, aerobic classes.
Terrific.
- Would you like to join it?
- I'd love to.
Come this way. Whoa,
watch your steps, okay?
Okay, guys, how are
we feeling, good?
Are we ready to get started?
Yes! Our aerobics class.
Oh, here's Gary. Come in.
Oh, Chris, this way.
Oh, and he's got our new resident here
with us. Hello, Chris. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing?
The scientists at MIT
who developed this suit,
have observed the people who wear it,
tend to go through three distinct phases.
The first being denial, essentially,
that they fight the suit.
Okay. Guys, we're gonna start with
a big, deep breath in, legs apart.
Breathe in.
So, now we're handing Chris
an opportunity to fight his suit.
We're offering him a
chance to beat aging...
...sort of.
Right. Left. Right. Good movement.
Yes, get that whole body going.
- Whoo!
- Whoo!
Yes!
So, add the hands.
Yes! Bit of drama.
Like we're at the nightclubs.
Come on, back in the day,
you know what I mean.
Yeah, back in the day.
Feels like yesterday.
All right. Let's do the hips.
We're gonna go back and thrust.
Back and thrust.
Look at Gary. He's killing it.
Come on.
Are you okay there, Chris?
You need to sit out?
- Nah, I'm doing good.
- You're all good? Okay.
- Chris, are you ready?
- Yeah, yeah. Come on.
Okay. Here it comes.
Come on, old man.
Something wrong with the bat, I think.
- That's what they always say.
- Stop talking.
The aging suit is brutal.
Affects my movement in a lot of
ways. And it's bloody exhausting.
- Sunset Pines. Sunset Pines.
- Sunset Pines.
Come on, Chris, say Pines.
And I'm trying to
muscle through it, but...
I'm just sort of
wearing myself out.
And... I find
myself losing the battle.
No way, Chris, you're
giving up already?
- Shut up, Gary.
- Oh, look at that.
This is a lot more difficult
than I thought it was gonna be.
- Sunset Pines. Sunset Pines.
- That's enough Sunset Pines already.
Let's breathe out.
And that's just
our warm-up, guys.
- Amazing!
- What?
You've got it in you,
Chris. How you feeling?
I'm gonna take a
seat for a second.
Chris is just gonna sit this one out.
All good. Step together. Tap. Tap.
Tap and step together. Tap...
The aging suit makes me feel
pretty nervous about the future.
I guess what scares me
is the deterioration of...
of physical capabilities.
Not being mobile, not being
able to play with my grandkids,
not being able to surf, not
being able to be active.
All the things I love to do.
Could be incredibly challenging
but also scary, I'm sure.
Great work today, guys, thank
you so much. See you next time.
Good session.
You all right there, Chris?
- Good. Thank you.
- No worries. Take your time, okay?
- Hey, bud.
- Hey.
I just wanna check in at the end
of a... a long day, I'd imagine.
Yeah, very long day. I feel like
I've had an intense workout.
- Well, we're not getting any younger.
- Yeah.
So, Gary, I thought it'd be really
helpful if you shared with Chris
some of your background,
story of your younger self.
Well, when I was younger, I
used to be, you know, quite fit.
When I was very active
and very physical.
Yeah.
You know. And my
favorite was in kung fu.
It became a huge part
of my life, my identity.
I was really good at it, winning
lots of awards and titles.
I was, at one stage, even awarded
a black belt by the Shaolin Temple.
It was really, really something.
And then one day, I had an
accident, you know, in the training.
I went too hard and
practically smashed my knee.
As I got older, my body just
never felt the same again.
I could never be
what I used to be.
When you're young, we always
think that we are super or Superman,
that we will live forever.
We never give a thought
that as you age,
you start to realize that different parts
of the body may start breaking down.
But the truth is,
you will grow old
and your body will fail.
So, gradually, you know, you
sort of have to accept...
- Yeah.
- The situation.
And that's when Tai Chi came in.
One morning when
I was out walking,
I saw a group of elderly people doing
this slow-motion type of exercise.
And the balance that they have,
you know, the flexibility and
the grace got me really curious.
I saw something that
I could relate to.
An opportunity...
And so, I started
to learn Tai Chi.
And I did it more and more.
And as I learn about this,
you know, I found a new way
of connecting to my
physicality, you know?
And so, this taught me a lot of things
and a new way of looking and of living.
You know. And maybe that is something
that might be useful to you.
One of the cruelties we do to each
other is we consider aging a failure,
that our body's failing us.
No. No, that's just
the way we see it.
Even as our body is maybe weakening,
it's opening up something else.
And this may be part of
us is getting smaller,
there's this room for us to
get bigger in some other way.
That's when humans really shine,
as we come up against the limit.
- Exactly. Yeah.
- It's a gift in a way, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, it's
a kind of revelation
that once you learn
to accept things
for what it is,
you actually find something
even deeper and more valuable.
A lot of what you're saying,
you know, rings true to me,
and it... and it makes you think
this is not a bad kind of...
How to... how to reframe that and
how to... how to adjust to it.
How about, let's go and
try out some Tai Chi moves?
- Sounds good.
- Okay.
Well, I hope that by
listening to my experience,
Chris will learn
that there are ways
that you can continue to live
the life that you want to.
You can actually
expand yourself.
So, you actually discover a
deeper understanding of the body.
It was great
talking to Gary.
Makes me realize that, you know,
my approach to the aging suit
shouldn't be to try and beat it.
Should be to adapt and evolve with it.
All right, so day one down.
Sunset Pines Retirement Village.
Officially retired and feeling pretty
old after wearing that suit all day,
pretty restrictive.
I started to get kind of irritated,
especially when people were talking to me
the way that I guess a lot
of us talk to elderly people,
which is that sort of, you know,
speaking very clear and "hello."
And there's almost this kind of
patronizing sort of tone to it.
So, I hope I don't do that
when I speak to elderly people.
Now, I've got to get
comfortable in this room here.
We've got a massive bed here
which looks like something
one of my kids would sleep
in. What else we got in here?
Not much, this is it. It's
a little bit like a prison.
Yeah, good night.
Good morning, residents.
It's another beautiful
day here at Sunset Pines
where we live every day to the fullest.
Lots of fun activities to do today
and tonight
there's our very own
Sunset Pines Ball.
So, don't forget
your dancing shoes.
Morning, Chris!
Day two at Sunset Pines is designed
for Chris to sort of settle in.
Hey, Chris.
As people wear this suit, what
the researchers at MIT have seen,
is the second stage is you move
into this adaptive response.
Touch your toes, man. See
if you can touch your toes.
So, if I'm going to get any
longevity benefits from this experience...
then my objective today is to
adapt to life in the aging suit.
- Wow.
- First up...
the rematch with Gary.
Ready to go again, Chris?
And this time, I've adapted and
recruited a doubles partner,
Douglas.
Oh, good shot.
Gary!
Good shot.
Okay. Watch this. Huh?
We're not gonna watch
that. Just hit the ball.
Okay, here it comes.
- That's it. Game over.
- I'm not playing anymore.
Ah! Steady.
So, Chris is trying
to adapt to this suit...
to work around it. Hack it.
Too old
for this...
But he's still in this mode
that this is something to beat.
But adaptation is not how
he's going to beat the suit.
So, I'm doing my
best to adapt to the suit.
But mostly it's just
kind of bugging me.
That is mine.
- Thank you very much.
- Good game.
Maybe it's time I tried
something a little less physical.
Oh, are you all
right there, Chris?
Poor old bugger.
And a bit more creative.
Hi, everyone. I just wanted to
welcome you to today's art class.
Today we're going to be
doing self-portraits.
Now, don't give me that, you'll be fine.
We're going to explore our identity today.
So, yeah, get into it. Have fun.
- Okay. Thank you.
- Have fun.
Hi, Chris. My name is Natalie.
- Nice to meet you. All right.
- I just wanted to welcome you.
- Good luck.
- Cool. Thank you.
So, the real goal of day two
is to move Chris beyond adaptation
to the third and final
lesson of the suit.
Acceptance and learning
to rely upon others.
What's your favorite color?
I like this bluey-pink kind
of vibe we got going here.
Oh, okay.
Bit on my helmet.
Very nice. It probably makes it look a
little bit more interesting, doesn't it?
Oh, I know... I know what I'll
do. I'll give you a rally stripe.
- A rally stripe?
- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah. Bring it on.
- A rally stripe.
Wait, wait. Don't move.
- Yeah?
- What do you reckon, guys?
- Aw. It looks fantastic.
- Nice.
How do you deal with that
hand with that strap on it?
Very tricky, isn't it?
- What do you feel like? An 80-year-old?
- Yep!
Arms feels a little bit heavy.
- You're looking a bit stiff.
- I feel a bit stiff.
So, what's the secret? How
have you guys stayed so active?
- I swim and I walk.
- Yeah.
You know, and I get out and
do stuff. I swim all winter.
- I'm pretty active at 80, so it's not bad.
- Yeah.
I think as well as being physically active
at the same time, keep your mind active.
You know, build up a good relationship
with your family, your children,
grandchildren... make
a lot of friends.
Yeah.
And... and while you're doing that,
you will also helping yourself
in maintaining your youth.
So, if Chris can accept
getting older and drop this notion
of physical independence,
that's when he can
learn to rely on others.
He's going to have to adopt
a bigger sense of himself
that can accommodate frailty,
and vulnerability, and old age.
This is the lesson if you can
learn to accept that fact.
That's when we get to experience
just how connected we all are
to each other and to the world around us.
This is very, very good for your health.
- So, you got children?
- Yep. Three kids.
How old?
- Nine and seven. Two twin boys at seven.
- Oh!
- Yeah.
- They were fun when they were babies.
Yes, they're fun now.
You miss them when you
are out and about doing
- your acting?
- Yeah, definitely. Yep.
Yep. Yep.
It's looking
good. Well done.
- Oh, Chris. Tell me about yours.
- I'm not sure what it is.
It's like me crossed
with a koala.
I just need a eucalyptus
leaf to be chewin' on.
No, looks great.
Hey, bud.
- Hello.
- How you doing?
Just...
remove the... the suit for a minute.
Just a... Yeah, it's just so good to...
It's nice to have a breather.
- Feel good to take it off?
- It does, yeah.
Well, good news.
You get to be done with that suit.
That experiment is over.
Wonderful.
Yeah, I'll leave it
right here on the couch.
Right, oh. Exactly.
The major lesson
here is acceptance.
There's certain things or certain
battles we're just not going to win
and you're not going
to beat that suit...
Yeah.
And you're not going to
beat aging and that's okay.
Yeah. But then how do you come to
terms with that? How do people accept?
For me, just couple
things to tell you about.
I... So, when I was 19,
a sophomore in college...
you know, life was really good.
Then sophomore fall,
friends of mine and I,
we were screwing around
on our commuter train
and my buds and I,
we just climbed it
like you climb a tree.
There was just a parked
train just sitting there.
But when I stood up, I had
a metal watch on my wrist.
And when I stood up, I was close
enough to the power source,
the electricity arced to the
watch. Instantaneous big explosion,
and in a moment just, you know,
everything changed in a way.
I lost one arm below the elbow
and both legs below the knee,
and I came very close to death.
It broke me down.
My life was over. I
was just pure loss.
And I thought, "Who am I, now?"
This forced me to
reimagine myself.
Adaptation was only
going to get me so far.
I had to accept it.
And somewhere along the
way, it took me a few years,
but there came a point
where I let that old body,
that old sense of
self, I let him go.
He died.
What was in store for me...
I knew that my identity
didn't exist in my feet.
I look at myself in the mirror
every once in a while and say,
"This is my life. This is it.
This is... this is my life."
I think this is a part of
acceptance is where you actually
let the change happen.
Come on.
That's it.
Good girl.
That was a big,
big deal for me.
Those years following my
accident and learning to play
with how I saw
myself in the world.
My sense of self had expanded
to the point where not only
I could accommodate limb loss.
But I started making meaning and
making sense of my experience.
I went into medicine and
fell immediately in love
with palliative care.
People usually have a misunderstanding
of it that it's all about
end of life and death.
But my job is to treat
suffering and to help people
find meaning in their life.
So, you could also say it's
something of a philosophy.
Come on. Right here.
My story is dramatic, but it's
just a variation on a theme.
We all suffer, we all bump up
against things that we can't control.
And that brings us to
this point of acceptance
and that's a place where
I'm trying to move Chris.
Talking with BJ, I find
myself in awe of his attitude.
He went through one of
the toughest experiences
someone can go through
at a very young age too,
and yet he's accepted
that experience,
and I find that such a
beautiful approach to life.
So, are you starting
to get a little hint,
a little glimmer at this
thing called acceptance?
Yeah, I mean, one thing I've
accepted and come to terms with is
that I... I don't feel
invincible, you know.
And the really interesting thing that
certainly I think about is, like,
well, there will come a day when
you can't take the suit off and...
that's an intimidating...
- thought for me, you know?
- Mm-hmm.
- It's a big one.
- Yeah.
Yeah, so, it stirs
up a whole lot of
ideas and... and thoughts.
And, you know, I... I think just living
in that space of sort of goal-orientated
- kind of get through this checklist first.
- Mm-hmm.
It can also be sort of
dangerous, right? Like a...
- Absolutely.
- 'Cause it's the assumption
that you have time to get
through it rather than going...
Right.
- Man.
- There may not be a tomorrow.
Yeah, absolutely. Yep.
I've come to learn how hard it
is to actually be in the moment.
Is that a skill you have?
It's something I...
am aware that I... I...
I want to achieve...
and be better at, you know.
But...
you know. Being in it, being
brutally honest with myself.
I'm not. And now...
I'm sort of going, "What's
really important?" You know?
You know, I just feel like I'm sort of,
you know, busier and busier and busier,
and I'm not even with the
kids as much as I want to be.
But like, I think about it...
That a lot, you
know, and just...
Just the sort of
fragility of it all.
I just wanna get this right.
It...
I've been working so much for...
ten or twelve years now,
and found a lot of, you
know, my memories have...
it felt like they are in fast forward,
and wishing I had a sort of pause
and taken more time.
And...
it makes me think about a story
my mom was telling me about.
The experience she had recently,
where she thought she was facing the
end of her life for a brief moment.
And that she felt...
complete peace with
her experiences
in the fact that she had many
people around her that loved her,
many people that she loved
and she had a very full life,
and I think it affected
me because I...
I don't want to find myself
rushing through things anymore.
Yeah. This experience
is making me
want to press pause on
everything for a while
and then kind of be much
more present than I've been.
So, at this point, Chris
is opening up a little bit,
which is an invaluable moment
along the way to acceptance.
It's now time to make some of these
lessons more personal for him.
And explore the world
of emotional loss.
The finale of day two is
a dance at Sunset Pines.
Do you wanna
try this on, see if it fits?
What Chris doesn't know
is, at the dance, his wife,
his real wife, Elsa,
will be waiting for him.
Oh, my God.
And Elsa has signed up to be age 50
years through the magic of prosthetics.
Yeah, I don't feel bad
about my hands now.
- Look at my hands!
- Yeah. There ya go.
So, I'm
sitting in the chair,
and they started putting
on the prosthetics
and it start to
feel really weird.
I was like, I don't
want to do this.
It was a moment of,
like, "I can't do this."
Aging is...
is threatening,
especially with women
and in this society,
it made me think about
how much value we give to youth.
This is possibly the
most confrontational,
daring moment of this
whole experiment.
Chris does not know this is coming.
This is a big surprise for him.
Yeah, I can... I can
see my mom actually.
It just makes you feel like,
God is that where we gonna go
and be, you know. It's...
it's difficult.
But, you know,
what's interesting is,
we know from data that
most of us are less afraid
by our own frailty,
our own deaths
than we are at the deaths
of people we care for.
So, to explore this further,
we want Chris to meet another
resident of Sunset Pines.
Well, my name is Aisea Vakalalabure.
I'm a Fijian, from Fiji.
And I'm 88 years old.
And here's your table Mr. Hemsworth.
I like you to meet Aisea.
Aisea?
- Hi Chris, pleased to meet you.
- You too.
Do you know
who Chris Hemsworth is?
No.
No.
How do you feel now coming
to this life of retirement?
- How...
- Very different, very different.
A lot of wonderful
people though, you know?
It's been a very
unique experience.
Well, I'll tell you
being an elderly person
is the best thing,
aging is very important in life.
BJ said it was a... a great
opportunity to meet you
because you have
an important story.
Well.
I come from Fiji and I
come from a chiefly family,
and my eldest brother we were very close.
I was closer to him than to my parents.
To him, I am the
small baby brother
but to me, he's everything.
And everywhere he goes
I'm always behind him.
I was his shadow.
From childhood, right up until
we went to the army
he's always there,
and he's always
looking after me.
And I look at him as a father,
big brother, and my protector.
When our father died,
being the eldest of the family,
he had to take over
the role of chief.
And he became a good chief,
and the people loved him.
Unfortunately, this
didn't last long.
He became sick.
When he died,
my world came crumbling down.
And I lost
the man that I loved,
my real brother.
And I was devastated,
the loss that I suffered
is unmeasurable.
But in Fijian society
there is a period of mourning
of 100 days and 100 nights
when the whole village
is closed down.
No singing. No
playing. No nothing.
And as the 100 days began,
I didn't want to
be around people
let alone lead a community.
And I thought to myself
will I be good enough?
Will they respect me as
they respected my brother?
I can't do this.
But 100 days is a long time.
It gives you time to think.
To learn, to be
more open to others.
To grow.
Day after day.
Every sunrise.
Every sunset.
The grief was changing me.
And that was how I accepted
I must stand up.
Follow his footsteps,
put on his shoes,
though big it may be,
and accept the role
of being a chief.
What I really want Chris
to learn from Aisea's example
is the importance of giving
ourself time and space
to have very difficult feelings.
Life includes incredible sorrow,
incredible sadness, and that those,
just like aging aren't our enemy,
they're just part of the deal.
You will lose
the people you love.
But I was a better
community leader
a better man, because
of those hundred days.
And so, I learnt
grief is beautiful.
Sounds like where you're from
there's far more acceptance
and welcoming of
that transition.
You know, I believe
that Western society
don't give enough
time to grieve.
Grief is good.
That’s what I believe in.
Gentlemen, here are your meals.
This is Sunset Pines
finest, and, Mr. Hemsworth,
we'll be looking forward to seeing
you at our weekly dance this evening.
- Bon appetit.
- Thank you.
Dancing?
- Should be fun.
- Yes.
It's great talking to Aisea
and so good to hear his story.
But the idea of losing
the people you love,
I think is the scariest thing
and that's not really something
I'm ready to accept just yet.
Sorry, Elsa. Is it okay
if you just keep your eyes closed
- for a little while?
- Mm-hmm.
Just while we do
this. Thank you.
So, the last part of day
two, we come to the dance,
and this is where we confront
Chris with Elsa, his beloved wife.
But now Elsa is the one
who's aged 50 years.
This could be good, or
it could be very tragic.
I don't know what's
going to happen.
Looking at myself,
it's really confronting,
and so real, like,
really, really real.
I feel really vulnerable.
And I'm not sure I want
Chris to see me like this.
Yeah.
- Chris, there you are. Now...
- You all right?
I have set you up
with a fantastic date.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, now, I know you're married.
- But we won't tell your wife, okay?
- Yeah, yeah, but?
Come with me. Come
on now. Don't be shy.
- Okay, I'm not shy. I know.
- Not shy though?
- Nervous not... not shy though.
- Oh, okay. See the lady in pink there?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Go get her, boy!
Excuse me, I think
I'm your date.
Oh, my God.
- It's so weird!
- Look at you.
Oh, my God.
Is it... I just wanna touch
your shoulder and I was like...
"Oh, my God. I
know this person."
Did you know?
Oh, wow.
Hello.
Still beautiful.
I think this moment
we will remember forever.
It was so deep
and so unexpected.
I felt safe.
It
was so beautiful.
- Do you expect it, you know? Not at all?
- I don't know what was going on.
I mean, this
is a wild experience.
Looking at my wife having aged 50 years
and it was a strange mixture of emotions
of sort of...
love, joy, empathy...
and then also
kind of absurd in
a brilliant way.
It's been such a weird...
day, like, I don't know.
Just thinking about...
life and death and
everything. And then, this...
For me, today was, like,
I was just putting on 50 years.
- Yeah. Yep.
- And it's really, really shocking,
not... not having
those years to adapt.
And I think nature
gave you that...
- steps to get used to me in a way.
- Yeah.
It's pretty intense diving straight
into. This is what... Yeah.
Yeah. It's just... it's
really confronting.
No, it was quite shocking
when I saw you then.
I was like, "Oh! Wait, wait."
Been robbed of 50 years.
It was kind of like...
it was kind of,
you're at the tail end of
things maybe.
Got a little... a little
sort of teary-eyed.
- I want to live those years with you.
- Yeah.
We need those memories, yeah?
Should we dance?
Should we dance? Sure.
Be careful with my back.
You gotta be careful. You just
try and keep up, all right?
You all right? Moving slow.
Maybe with this experience, we've
ratcheted down Chris's anxieties
or fears around aging and death,
so that he gets to see this
idea that aging ain't so bad.
And that love
actually really
can hold you through
just about anything.
I think what is quite confronting
is approaching that age on my own.
What makes it less scary
is having someone to
experience it with.
You know, having people
around you that you love,
makes me feel a lot more...
accepting.
Sorry, I have to go.
Okay.
I love you.
I love you too.
One of the really important
lessons that Chris needs to learn
is where there is
love, there is loss.
There will be losses
in his own life.
It's not if, it's when.
And this sets us up for the next
piece of this very strange odyssey...
Where we're moving from aging
into mortality, into death.
Good morning, residents.
It's yet another beautiful
day here at Sunset Pines,
where we live every
day to the fullest.
Theater Club is starting soon.
And don't forget, there's bingo
in the village hall this evening.
Oh, and we also want to
formally welcome Mr. Hemsworth,
who's already settling right in.
I feel quite immersed, and
at home in the experience now.
And I'm just trying to
be constantly open to it.
Makes me realize, you know,
this... this might not be as bad
as I thought it was gonna be.
So here we are at the beginning
of day three, our final day,
and we're moving now
towards death, mortality.
- Hello.
- Hi.
I wanted to introduce Chris
to my friend and colleague...
Alua Arthur. And she works as,
what's called a death doula.
Now tell me, what
exactly is a death doula?
So, a death doula is somebody
who does all the non-medical care
and support of the dying person
and the family through the process.
We essentially walk people
toward the end of life.
Wow.
So, if you were talking
a lot about the end of life.
Today, we're gonna talk
about your mortality.
Okay.
- Okay?
- Yeah.
So we have a little
exercise prepared for you,
a little bit of
exposure therapy...
- All right.
- To get you ready for that.
- Okay.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
- Okay, let's go check it out.
So, as you see,
- we have a bunch of coffins here for you.
- Wow.
Yeah, you have a chance
to take a look at them,
see what you like, see
what you don't like.
- I... I have to choose one?
- Yeah, that'd be great.
- Wow.
- You can do a little shopping,
take a look around, see
what you're interested in,
what you're drawn to.
What an odd concept. This is a
little kind of dollhouse vibe.
- It is.
- So I'll maybe not go there.
- We have a beautiful...
- Yeah.
Pine one here.
All the sort of fancy timbers feel
a little bit of a waste, don't they?
To bury those in the ground.
Feels like that should be
furniture or something.
Maybe cardboard. Compostable.
Really economical too.
- Yeah.
- They are totally compostable,
- biodegradable.
- Yeah.
Everything like that.
I mean, I'm not gonna... I'm not gonna
need much where I'm going, I guess.
Breathes well?
Breathes well, beautiful,
natural, Moses vibes.
- Extra-large picnic basket. Good.
- Absolutely. Here we have a mahogany one.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah, really beautiful.
This one has been built
specifically for your body.
Maybe you might wanna
check it out, get in it?
- Yeah, cool.
- Ready?
- Just jump straight in there, right?
- Yeah, take it easy.
My hope, in looking
at the coffins with Chris,
is that he will connect to his
own body one day in those coffins.
And so he starts to think
of his death itself.
- Yeah, you already got the position down.
- Yeah, look at that.
- Just like that.
- It's weird... I feel like a vampire.
- Yeah, well, close.
- Just going away for the...
long night.
- Also called death?
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- Done.
- Well...
We're scared about
talking about death
'cause it makes us
really uncomfortable,
like it's something wrong.
Trees die, flowers die, animals
die, car batteries die, humans die.
It was... it was a strange
experience, wasn't it?
What do you think of
coffins generally?
You... I don't know, I kind of maybe
would prefer to be cremated, I guess.
Rather than cocooned
up in some space,
there's something sort of
claustrophobic about that thought.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
And maybe you could just...
You could throw me in the ocean
and the sharks could
have at me, and...
- Throw your body in the ocean?
- Yeah.
I'm curious about how you
view what happens after death.
I don't know. I remember as a
kid, sort of lying awake at night,
thinking about the
idea of nothing,
you know, and... poof... just
that's it, you know, forever...
- Yeah.
- You know? And not just forever,
- but forever, forever, forever, you know?
- Forever.
And it used to kinda...
And it'd, like, keep me up.
You know, it was this, like,
just that complete
empty, nothing,
gone kind of idea.
Scared the hell out of me.
The reality is, as we know, that
it could be at any point in time...
- Yeah.
- Right? You know, often people
think about the end of life
as some faraway notion.
Like it's something that
happens out there, over there
and it comes far sooner than
most people are ready for,
which is why opportunities like this one,
to be present to mortality, is so useful.
What would you say the
biggest thing you've learned
through talking to people
at the end of their days?
Being with somebody
as they have just
stopped breathing,
to feel the incredible
stillness in the room
after life has just left a body,
is the most simple,
yet the most profound.
In that life really does
hang on a single breath.
It's there one minute and
then it's gone the next.
And when it's gone, it
reminds me that I still have
the capacity to breathe, and to
live, and to be engaged, and to love,
and to laugh, and to...
be joyful, and to
wear color, and to...
- Yeah, yeah.
- Hug, and, you know, dance,
and to live, to live.
Yeah.
That's beautiful.
Later on, today, we're gonna
do a death-bed meditation.
- Mm.
- Get you closer to your death.
Okay, great.
For now, there's somebody I want
you to meet before we do that.
- Okay.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
- Let's go.
One of the benefits for somebody
as young and as vital as Chris
to be talking and thinking about death
is that it really does drive home
the conversation that this is
possible for anybody at any time.
- Natalie.
- Hello, Chris.
But that young people
also become sick.
Saw you in art
class the other day.
Yeah. Hi.
Hi. Alua said that
we should speak.
Yeah. Well, I'm here to
tell you about my experience
with stage-four cancer.
And to be honest, I don't know
how much time I have left.
I'm 27 now.
But when I was 20, I was diagnosed
with stage-three melanoma.
It got into my lymph nodes.
And so, surgery
was my only option.
So, they cut off my toe, they
got rid of all my lymph nodes.
And for a 20-year-old, you can imagine,
your life got turned upside-down.
- Yeah.
- And...
from there on, I have thought about
death every single day of my life.
No one at 20 expects to
be diagnosed with cancer.
No one prepares you for
a diagnosis like that.
And especially, like, the
effects it has on your family,
and your friends, and my whole
world changed, pretty much,
like, overnight.
Cancer became my
overall identity.
Essentially, I was referred
to as the sick one.
For a little while there,
I was... I was really lost.
And I needed to find that
person who I once was before.
Yeah.
And so, off I
went, I went to Venice.
Not to run away, more to be in a
place where no one knew my story,
so I could truly figure out myself
and how to live alongside this cancer.
And I met a boy, I fell in love.
And he just saw me for
me, which was, honestly,
really, really beautiful.
Alexander is genuine and kind.
And I've often referred
to him as my oak tree.
He's the person who's just standing
steadfast and he keeps me steady.
When you have cancer, you
don't know if you can be loved.
And your relationship
with love and yourself...
pretty much goes
out of the window.
Love is the most
amazing thing that we have,
and that we can
experience in this world.
And the fact that I get to
experience his love, you know...
he makes me so happy.
And these are happy tears.
But three months into our
love story, I came home,
and I had a routine scan, and they told
me that the cancer was back in my lungs.
And now, I was stage four.
So, I told him.
And then I said, "I'm
breaking up with you."
And he just turned around
and was like, "No."
And he was like,
"I'm in this."
And he says, "I choose all
the time with you that I have.
It doesn't matter if
it's long, if it's short.
Well, I choose you."
It's probably because of my diagnosis
of the way that I look at time.
The time that anybody
has is so precious.
So, if you just dive in headfirst,
and use whatever time that you have
because nobody knows their timelines.
So, we're just going to love each other.
And we're gonna love each
other no matter what.
No matter how much
time we have left.
You know, we
talked about acceptance.
How are you with... with acceptance?
With that word or with the idea of it?
I've thought about death every
single day for the past seven years.
Have I accepted my mortality?
Yes and no.
I think people have a very
funny relationship with aging,
they get really scared of it.
But in truth, I
would love to age.
I would love nothing
more than to get old,
and I think that's a gift.
We're all... we're
all gonna die one day.
So, you have to really live life as
much as like you can and enjoy it.
To soak up every single moment.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Your life
could end at any time.
So just enjoy life, enjoy time,
make the most of it.
And love as much as you can.
This is a heartbreaking
experience, talking to Natalie
and listening to her
story and... and...
hearing someone...
talk with such grace
and... and maturity
about something so,
so uncertain is,
is really inspiring.
- Hello.
- Good to see you.
- How are you?
- I'm great, man.
How was your chat with Natalie?
Yeah, an incredible individual.
Could you feel that...
This idea that there...
tomorrow isn't guaranteed?
Yeah.
There's no certainty around
that at all. Do you feel that?
Absolutely. Yeah.
There was this sort of...
essential need to, sort
of, shake the world
and get this message out and
say, "Do not mess around,
do not take it for granted.
Soak up every moment."
And that is sort of the running
theme I've sort of felt with people.
Yeah, it's also to kinda...
weave together
in a sort of... a... a better
understanding of it all.
So,
we have come to the end of the... Of
your time at Sunset Pines, brother.
All that's left for you to
do is walk through that door.
And...
whatever you find
there, just go with it.
Okay.
This is the boldest part
of this whole experiment.
Thanks, brother.
We are going to push
our immersive theater
to its limits.
All right.
We're gonna get you
to the hospital.
Cardiac arrest, 180 over 120.
Let's go, let's go.
Oxygen running. Breathe deep.
Chris, Chris!
- Chris, can you hear me?
- I'm not getting a pulse. Get clear.
Clothing clear.
- That was intense, huh?
- Yeah, very strange.
- Quite the experience.
- It was... Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know if you're
seeing me at this point,
things probably didn't
go according to plan.
Yeah.
So, we're going to do
the death meditation now.
The intention for this meditation is
to bring you into greater awareness
of the end of your life and also
to create renewed engagement
- with life as it is.
- Yeah.
So, you can begin by
closing your eyes.
And now take a deep breath in.
Repeat to yourself,
"My death is inevitable."
"My death is inevitable."
On the out-breath,
"I too will die."
"I too will die."
We're going to
take you on a journey.
Everyone you've met and
everything you've done
has been leading to this.
On the in-breath,
- you will grow old.
- You will grow old.
And on the out-breath,
repeat, "Your body will fail."
Your body will fail.
Once you've
learned to accept
you can actually find something
even deeper and more valuable.
On the in-breath, "You
will lose the people you love."
"You will lose
the people you love."
You will lose
the people you love.
And on the out-breath,
repeat... "Grief is beautiful."
Grief is beautiful.
On the in-breath, "Your
life could end at any time."
Your life
could end at any time.
Your life
could end at any time.
- "You too, will die."
- "You, too, will die."
You, too, will die.
He is my oak tree.
Just enjoy time...
And love as much as you can.
As you see yourself on your
deathbed now in your mind's eye,
look closely at who is
surrounding your bedside.
Who is holding your hand?
Your body is weakening...
and you're beginning
to dissolve.
Release
attachment to Elsa.
Release attachment
to your children.
Your loved ones cannot save you.
You will create no new memories.
Now you surrender...
and release into death.
And you find yourself gaining acceptance
that one day your life will end.
You may open your eyes
and blow out this candle.
- Hello.
- Hey.
Hey! Come here.
Yeah, come on.
Come on. Have a seat.
Either way.
Another unique experience.
How was it? How'd you find it?
It felt really peaceful.
It just felt...
It didn't feel intimidating,
it felt sort of like I was off floating
down a river or something, you know?
Onto the next place,
wherever that was. And...
It's just...
When you said, "Think of the
place you'd be or you wanna be.
Who would be around you when
you're dying, when it's happening."
And I was just imagining myself in
my living room with all my family
and friends around and...
And then it sort of
struck me, I was like,
"This is what I have
all the time." Like...
- how lucky I am, you know?
- Right on.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah.
It's a very familiar place
and experience for me.
And it doesn't feel
lonely at all, it feels...
it feels like any other Sunday,
when I'm surrounded
by loved ones.
Oh, the... the conversation we'd
have in the last couple of days
about, you know, just feeling
like I've been missing things
or doing too much, and
I just had a moment of
kind of calm and...
pause about it all, and thought,
it's... it's all great, sure
I can do things differently,
but not to look at anything
past as it having been a mistake
or being done wrong.
And then, that sort of
strange parallel with
this idea of acceptance of death
and letting go, and also
with life and letting go,
and doesn't mean you let go of
the steering wheel completely,
but just kind of enjoying the ride
and enjoying the view, you know?
There's something very peaceful
about that... that acceptance.
And maybe it's fun the circle
back to this Sunset Pines.
This sort of, what feels
maybe like a tacky tagline.
"Sunset Pines, where we live
every day to the fullest."
- But the clue is in that title all along.
- Yeah.
Welcome,
Mr. Hemsworth, to Sunset Pines,
where we live every
day to the fullest.
Welcome to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
Welcome to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
Thank you.
Hello.
That was the real instruction.
"Live every day to the fullest."
- You all right?
- You all right?
How was it?
It was awesome. It's
pretty... pretty special.
You can do it. It
only takes three days.
Yeah, yeah.
We tend to treat life
as this right that we have.
And that by virtue
of being born,
we have a right to life, we
have a right to a tomorrow.
No. Life is a gift.
Another day is a gift.
- Before you go, can you sign my picture?
- Sure.
A full life is one that
includes death, includes pain.
But if we can be grateful
for yet another minute
on this beautiful, crazy
planet. Imagine that.
Hey!
This is my oak tree.
- Indy, quick, quick, quick.
- Life doesn't come
at some point in the future,
when you finally find that
person, or lose that weight,
or stop working so much, or get
that job, or whatever it is,
it's happening right
now. You're in it.
You're living it.
- Thank you, buddy.
- All right, see you.
The truth is that
we're not limitless.
Thanks, guys.
This experience has come
at the right time for me.
At a time in my life where I
really wanna focus on what matters.
And it all matters.
Every moment.
Every smile. Every tear.
- Daddy!
- Every kiss.
All of it.
This has brought you joy?
- Absolutely.
- Excellent.
Hey, Chris!
Living my longest,
healthiest, happiest life.
That's gonna be the
work of a lifetime.
Tell you
what. That's a wrap.
Well done, everybody.
Jake, cut!
on. Switch it on...
Impose your will on the sea.
He's at 145.
This is double his heart rate.
Over the past year,
I've been exploring the
science of living longer.
Doing everything I
can to hold back time.
But whatever I do, sooner or
later, aging and death will win.
So, what am I going
to do about that?
You're gonna tie me up.
This wasn't... this wasn't
in the initial contract.
Super attractive.
Okay, Chris. We are gonna
attach the weights to it.
Apparently, this is
what I'm going to do about it.
This fashion disaster is what's
called an age simulation suit.
Designed at MIT,
it's been precisely
calibrated to my physique.
The bungees restrict
my movements.
And I'll be carrying an extra
30 pounds around with me.
And these shoes will
make me unbalanced.
I'm doing all this, so
that I can experience
how my body will feel
in 50 years' time.
I'm really curious to
see how you look at 87.
And my wife, Elsa,
is a little too interested.
Hey, you're into this suit,
aren't you? This is...
- Just leave it like that.
- I can wear this on date night.
"No, no, no, don't put
the fireman suit on.
- Put the... the aging suit on."
- Exactly! Put the aging suit...
Counterintuitively,
longevity scientists
actually believe that a key
to the longest, healthiest life
might not be to resist aging,
but to embrace it.
You're
gonna lose your hearing.
You look
ridiculous.
So, I'm finishing my fight to
stay young, by learning how to get old.
You're gonna lose
a little bit of your vision.
This sucks, by the way.
Okay, Chris.
Brutal.
- How you feeling?
- Old.
Okay,
rolling through. Rolling.
All
on the rehearsal.
All I've been told
is that I'm about to jump
forward 50 years into the future
and spend the next three days
living the life of an octogenarian.
Move to
reception, thank you.
The architect of
this strange challenge
is Dr. BJ Miller.
A world-renowned
palliative care physician.
His work centers on unlocking
the transformative power
of accepting aging and death.
Dying offers us something,
we can change how we see it, what
we do with it, how we play with it.
Chris is about to take part
in a truly unique experiment.
Ready, my old man?
I don't know. I mean, ask me
in three days' time, maybe.
We are doing something
bold and novel here.
We're going to combine
the arts and sciences
to create a completely
immersive world for Chris.
It's a constructed world
of a retirement community.
And then, at the end of
three days at Sunset Pines...
we're going to kill
Chris Hemsworth.
Slow down! Why are you driving so fast?
It's okay. We'll get there.
Maybe you should let me drive.
No way!
I can't see or hear anything.
Welcome to Sunset Pines.
This is my new home, huh?
New best friend.
So, finally, here we are. And
this is what I've been waiting for.
This is my opportunity
to beat aging.
Hello.
How hard that can be?
Chris doesn't seem very worried, but
I think he's underestimated old age.
I think he's going to probably want
to get out of there as soon as he can.
This is it.
Okay.
- Elsa.
- Hey. Can you see me?
Where we going?
- Oh, look at this. Hello. Hello.
- How are ya?
Chris. Pleasure, buddy.
Nice to meet you.
I'm BJ. How's the
suit feeling, my guy?
A little heavy and slower
than I used to be, but...
- Right on. That's the idea.
- That the idea.
So, that's the first
part of this immersion.
The second part
is... is this place.
- Yeah.
- Sunset Pines.
So, it's a retirement
village made just for you.
All right.
This is a three-day
piece of immersive theater.
It's going to be a
little bit surreal.
But there's something
very real about surreal.
Yay!
All the older people that he's
meeting along the way are entirely real.
And they're there for
Chris to interact with
and to befriend
and to relate with.
Aw!
But the staff of Sunset
Pines, the carers are actors.
They are going to treat Chris
as though he is an 87-year-old.
They will not break character.
Apologies for the interruption,
Dr. Miller. Welcome,
Mr. Hemsworth, to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
My name is Sofia. I'm
one of the carers here.
I'm going to take you
in for orientation.
So, I'd like to ask you
to say your goodbyes now.
- See you later.
- See you later.
All right.
Now, are you happy to walk
or would you like a chair?
- Yeah, I'm okay to walk.
- Okay, no problem.
Now, it can be a little
bit of an adjustment period
here at Sunset Pines.
So, it's totally normal
to feel a little bit
out of place at first,
but I can assure you,
our community are very
welcoming and supportive.
There is a handrail there.
I'll just ask you to use that.
Yep, that's it. All
right. Are you okay?
- I'm good, thanks.
- Yeah?
Hey!
- Joy is gonna get you all checked in.
- All right.
And then you'll be shown
up to your apartment.
I mean, this
is a wild experience.
I'm kind of trying to piece it
together as I go, but it's...
It's just kind of weird.
- Hi, Joy.
- Hello.
This is Mr. Hemsworth. He's
one of our newest residents.
Hello, Mr. Hemsworth.
Welcome to Sunset Pines where we
live every day to the fullest.
- Cool.
- So, I'll... I'll put you into our system.
So, if you can just
give me a moment.
All right, so, I would
just need this...
Wearing the suit, it's just
horrible, really uncomfortable.
Everything is heavy.
And I find myself
feeling very restricted.
And then, you know, the
lack of vision, hearing,
I find myself missing 20 to 30
percent of what's being said.
I just need you to look directly
at the lens, please. All done.
It feels really
isolating because everything is,
you know, feels
somewhat closed off.
How you doing?
What was that?
- How you doing?
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- I'm feeling a little disorientated.
- Right.
Can't really see properly
or hear properly.
- Well, that's exactly the idea, right?
- Okay.
A big part of the reason
to give him this experience
is we are living amidst an epidemic
of denial that we are denying aging,
older age and we are denying
death. It's a kind of stress.
It's bad for our blood pressure,
it's bad for our hormonal lives,
it's bad for our neurochemistry.
In... in this way, there's a
physiologic effect directly
on our bodies. And this
stress can shorten a life.
Increasingly we are seeing
multiple peer-reviewed studies
that suggest that if we can
actually embrace that reality,
if you can find a way to accept
it and to accommodate being older
that you'll be happier, less depressed,
and maybe you'll actually live longer,
and not by just a day or two but
years... years longer, potentially.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
Make sense?
Okay, looks like you're ready.
We have your ID printed out.
So, if you can just double-check
that all your details are correct,
date of birth and
spelling of your name.
Yeah, the spelling is all right.
I don't know about that photo.
What happened to me?
That's you, brother.
That beautiful old man.
- Wow.
- Well.
It's been a rough 50 years.
Do you need help
putting on that lanyard?
I'm just gonna fit it over
my giant head. There we go.
Yes!
There we are.
It's official. You are
a new resident. Michael.
Mr. Hemsworth, how you doing?
I'm Michael. I'm a carer here.
- How are ya?
- Welcome to Sunset Pines.
- Thank you.
- Where we live...
Where we live every
day to the fullest.
Great ID photo, man.
- Thanks.
- Where we going?
- Apartment nine, spruce.
- Spruce.
- Spruce, eh?
- They're nice suites, dude.
So, over the next few days,
we are going to leap Chris forward
50 years and introduce him to
an accelerated version of aging.
You like croquet?
- Nah, not really.
- Oh, fair enough.
So, he can have a little bit of
a taste of not just as an idea
but a visceral way, he can
touch what it feels like
to be an elder and he can begin
to touch what it feels like
to be at the edge of life
and at the end of life.
Hang on, Fred.
And things are only going
to get weirder from here.
Never.
Watch out, ladies. Fresh
meat coming through.
- Good morning.
- Come on, Chris.
All right, mate. It's a
great environment here.
It's really friendly.
- All right. Welcome.
- Thank you.
- How are you, Fran?
- I'm ready to go.
We'll circle back
and say hi later.
Keep away from that woman, okay?
- Yeah.
- She's a deadly card player.
Oh, I'm not much of a
card player, so I'll stay away.
Keep away from her then.
Ian, how you doing?
- Hello. How are you?
- Hello, welcome.
You can pretty much
roam wherever you want here.
Apart from that there. You
don't need to worry about that.
- That's off limits.
- Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, but, this is it.
Your home now, okay?
- Here I am.
- That's you.
Huh, what
do you think of this?
Wow.
Take a trip down memory lane.
I got old quick.
My older brother looks
the youngest.
That's, uh... That's crazy.
Joy mentioned you
used to do some acting.
Yeah. I don't think I'd be doing
it till my hair looks like that.
I thought it was like
local theater, but like...
- Mostly local theater.
- Nice job.
We got your books
there as well. So...
Thorever!
Your wife dropped off
some of the other stuff as well.
So, we just want to make
it feel like a home to you.
So, looking around,
does this feel all right to you?
Feel like it could be home?
I think it feels a
little lonely, doesn't it?
Yeah?
It feels a bit like
a hospital, you know?
Yeah.
It's...
Everything up until this
point has felt like theater.
It has been quite fun...
and then when I find
myself in my room,
it kind of begins to
hit home a bit more
and has a bit more weight to it.
Yeah, interesting.
Chris, I'm gonna chuck
this bag down, all right,
and then we're gonna move
on to meet Gary, all right?
He's you're moving buddy.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
He's gonna show you awesome activities.
He's a nice guy, a master of Tai Chi.
- Cool.
- Yeah.
Gary's a bit
of a legend around here.
So, be careful if he
challenges you in anything.
Oh, yeah. I've got a bit of
a competitive spirit myself.
Gary. how you doing?
- Oh, good. Thanks.
- It's your new neighbor. It's Christopher.
- Hello.
- Oh, hi, Chris. Welcome to Sunset Pine.
- Oh, thank you.
- This is the paradise for retirement.
Is it?
What... What's the best
thing around here to do?
Ah! We have that
traditional bingo.
- Bingo?
- Bingo!
- All right.
- Yeah.
Bit of a workout for the mind.
Bingo is not as... Not as
physically challenging.
Then, if you like, we do have a ping-pong,
you know, or workout in the gym.
- Yeah.
- And also, aerobic classes.
Terrific.
- Would you like to join it?
- I'd love to.
Come this way. Whoa,
watch your steps, okay?
Okay, guys, how are
we feeling, good?
Are we ready to get started?
Yes! Our aerobics class.
Oh, here's Gary. Come in.
Oh, Chris, this way.
Oh, and he's got our new resident here
with us. Hello, Chris. Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- How you doing?
The scientists at MIT
who developed this suit,
have observed the people who wear it,
tend to go through three distinct phases.
The first being denial, essentially,
that they fight the suit.
Okay. Guys, we're gonna start with
a big, deep breath in, legs apart.
Breathe in.
So, now we're handing Chris
an opportunity to fight his suit.
We're offering him a
chance to beat aging...
...sort of.
Right. Left. Right. Good movement.
Yes, get that whole body going.
- Whoo!
- Whoo!
Yes!
So, add the hands.
Yes! Bit of drama.
Like we're at the nightclubs.
Come on, back in the day,
you know what I mean.
Yeah, back in the day.
Feels like yesterday.
All right. Let's do the hips.
We're gonna go back and thrust.
Back and thrust.
Look at Gary. He's killing it.
Come on.
Are you okay there, Chris?
You need to sit out?
- Nah, I'm doing good.
- You're all good? Okay.
- Chris, are you ready?
- Yeah, yeah. Come on.
Okay. Here it comes.
Come on, old man.
Something wrong with the bat, I think.
- That's what they always say.
- Stop talking.
The aging suit is brutal.
Affects my movement in a lot of
ways. And it's bloody exhausting.
- Sunset Pines. Sunset Pines.
- Sunset Pines.
Come on, Chris, say Pines.
And I'm trying to
muscle through it, but...
I'm just sort of
wearing myself out.
And... I find
myself losing the battle.
No way, Chris, you're
giving up already?
- Shut up, Gary.
- Oh, look at that.
This is a lot more difficult
than I thought it was gonna be.
- Sunset Pines. Sunset Pines.
- That's enough Sunset Pines already.
Let's breathe out.
And that's just
our warm-up, guys.
- Amazing!
- What?
You've got it in you,
Chris. How you feeling?
I'm gonna take a
seat for a second.
Chris is just gonna sit this one out.
All good. Step together. Tap. Tap.
Tap and step together. Tap...
The aging suit makes me feel
pretty nervous about the future.
I guess what scares me
is the deterioration of...
of physical capabilities.
Not being mobile, not being
able to play with my grandkids,
not being able to surf, not
being able to be active.
All the things I love to do.
Could be incredibly challenging
but also scary, I'm sure.
Great work today, guys, thank
you so much. See you next time.
Good session.
You all right there, Chris?
- Good. Thank you.
- No worries. Take your time, okay?
- Hey, bud.
- Hey.
I just wanna check in at the end
of a... a long day, I'd imagine.
Yeah, very long day. I feel like
I've had an intense workout.
- Well, we're not getting any younger.
- Yeah.
So, Gary, I thought it'd be really
helpful if you shared with Chris
some of your background,
story of your younger self.
Well, when I was younger, I
used to be, you know, quite fit.
When I was very active
and very physical.
Yeah.
You know. And my
favorite was in kung fu.
It became a huge part
of my life, my identity.
I was really good at it, winning
lots of awards and titles.
I was, at one stage, even awarded
a black belt by the Shaolin Temple.
It was really, really something.
And then one day, I had an
accident, you know, in the training.
I went too hard and
practically smashed my knee.
As I got older, my body just
never felt the same again.
I could never be
what I used to be.
When you're young, we always
think that we are super or Superman,
that we will live forever.
We never give a thought
that as you age,
you start to realize that different parts
of the body may start breaking down.
But the truth is,
you will grow old
and your body will fail.
So, gradually, you know, you
sort of have to accept...
- Yeah.
- The situation.
And that's when Tai Chi came in.
One morning when
I was out walking,
I saw a group of elderly people doing
this slow-motion type of exercise.
And the balance that they have,
you know, the flexibility and
the grace got me really curious.
I saw something that
I could relate to.
An opportunity...
And so, I started
to learn Tai Chi.
And I did it more and more.
And as I learn about this,
you know, I found a new way
of connecting to my
physicality, you know?
And so, this taught me a lot of things
and a new way of looking and of living.
You know. And maybe that is something
that might be useful to you.
One of the cruelties we do to each
other is we consider aging a failure,
that our body's failing us.
No. No, that's just
the way we see it.
Even as our body is maybe weakening,
it's opening up something else.
And this may be part of
us is getting smaller,
there's this room for us to
get bigger in some other way.
That's when humans really shine,
as we come up against the limit.
- Exactly. Yeah.
- It's a gift in a way, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah, it's
a kind of revelation
that once you learn
to accept things
for what it is,
you actually find something
even deeper and more valuable.
A lot of what you're saying,
you know, rings true to me,
and it... and it makes you think
this is not a bad kind of...
How to... how to reframe that and
how to... how to adjust to it.
How about, let's go and
try out some Tai Chi moves?
- Sounds good.
- Okay.
Well, I hope that by
listening to my experience,
Chris will learn
that there are ways
that you can continue to live
the life that you want to.
You can actually
expand yourself.
So, you actually discover a
deeper understanding of the body.
It was great
talking to Gary.
Makes me realize that, you know,
my approach to the aging suit
shouldn't be to try and beat it.
Should be to adapt and evolve with it.
All right, so day one down.
Sunset Pines Retirement Village.
Officially retired and feeling pretty
old after wearing that suit all day,
pretty restrictive.
I started to get kind of irritated,
especially when people were talking to me
the way that I guess a lot
of us talk to elderly people,
which is that sort of, you know,
speaking very clear and "hello."
And there's almost this kind of
patronizing sort of tone to it.
So, I hope I don't do that
when I speak to elderly people.
Now, I've got to get
comfortable in this room here.
We've got a massive bed here
which looks like something
one of my kids would sleep
in. What else we got in here?
Not much, this is it. It's
a little bit like a prison.
Yeah, good night.
Good morning, residents.
It's another beautiful
day here at Sunset Pines
where we live every day to the fullest.
Lots of fun activities to do today
and tonight
there's our very own
Sunset Pines Ball.
So, don't forget
your dancing shoes.
Morning, Chris!
Day two at Sunset Pines is designed
for Chris to sort of settle in.
Hey, Chris.
As people wear this suit, what
the researchers at MIT have seen,
is the second stage is you move
into this adaptive response.
Touch your toes, man. See
if you can touch your toes.
So, if I'm going to get any
longevity benefits from this experience...
then my objective today is to
adapt to life in the aging suit.
- Wow.
- First up...
the rematch with Gary.
Ready to go again, Chris?
And this time, I've adapted and
recruited a doubles partner,
Douglas.
Oh, good shot.
Gary!
Good shot.
Okay. Watch this. Huh?
We're not gonna watch
that. Just hit the ball.
Okay, here it comes.
- That's it. Game over.
- I'm not playing anymore.
Ah! Steady.
So, Chris is trying
to adapt to this suit...
to work around it. Hack it.
Too old
for this...
But he's still in this mode
that this is something to beat.
But adaptation is not how
he's going to beat the suit.
So, I'm doing my
best to adapt to the suit.
But mostly it's just
kind of bugging me.
That is mine.
- Thank you very much.
- Good game.
Maybe it's time I tried
something a little less physical.
Oh, are you all
right there, Chris?
Poor old bugger.
And a bit more creative.
Hi, everyone. I just wanted to
welcome you to today's art class.
Today we're going to be
doing self-portraits.
Now, don't give me that, you'll be fine.
We're going to explore our identity today.
So, yeah, get into it. Have fun.
- Okay. Thank you.
- Have fun.
Hi, Chris. My name is Natalie.
- Nice to meet you. All right.
- I just wanted to welcome you.
- Good luck.
- Cool. Thank you.
So, the real goal of day two
is to move Chris beyond adaptation
to the third and final
lesson of the suit.
Acceptance and learning
to rely upon others.
What's your favorite color?
I like this bluey-pink kind
of vibe we got going here.
Oh, okay.
Bit on my helmet.
Very nice. It probably makes it look a
little bit more interesting, doesn't it?
Oh, I know... I know what I'll
do. I'll give you a rally stripe.
- A rally stripe?
- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah. Bring it on.
- A rally stripe.
Wait, wait. Don't move.
- Yeah?
- What do you reckon, guys?
- Aw. It looks fantastic.
- Nice.
How do you deal with that
hand with that strap on it?
Very tricky, isn't it?
- What do you feel like? An 80-year-old?
- Yep!
Arms feels a little bit heavy.
- You're looking a bit stiff.
- I feel a bit stiff.
So, what's the secret? How
have you guys stayed so active?
- I swim and I walk.
- Yeah.
You know, and I get out and
do stuff. I swim all winter.
- I'm pretty active at 80, so it's not bad.
- Yeah.
I think as well as being physically active
at the same time, keep your mind active.
You know, build up a good relationship
with your family, your children,
grandchildren... make
a lot of friends.
Yeah.
And... and while you're doing that,
you will also helping yourself
in maintaining your youth.
So, if Chris can accept
getting older and drop this notion
of physical independence,
that's when he can
learn to rely on others.
He's going to have to adopt
a bigger sense of himself
that can accommodate frailty,
and vulnerability, and old age.
This is the lesson if you can
learn to accept that fact.
That's when we get to experience
just how connected we all are
to each other and to the world around us.
This is very, very good for your health.
- So, you got children?
- Yep. Three kids.
How old?
- Nine and seven. Two twin boys at seven.
- Oh!
- Yeah.
- They were fun when they were babies.
Yes, they're fun now.
You miss them when you
are out and about doing
- your acting?
- Yeah, definitely. Yep.
Yep. Yep.
It's looking
good. Well done.
- Oh, Chris. Tell me about yours.
- I'm not sure what it is.
It's like me crossed
with a koala.
I just need a eucalyptus
leaf to be chewin' on.
No, looks great.
Hey, bud.
- Hello.
- How you doing?
Just...
remove the... the suit for a minute.
Just a... Yeah, it's just so good to...
It's nice to have a breather.
- Feel good to take it off?
- It does, yeah.
Well, good news.
You get to be done with that suit.
That experiment is over.
Wonderful.
Yeah, I'll leave it
right here on the couch.
Right, oh. Exactly.
The major lesson
here is acceptance.
There's certain things or certain
battles we're just not going to win
and you're not going
to beat that suit...
Yeah.
And you're not going to
beat aging and that's okay.
Yeah. But then how do you come to
terms with that? How do people accept?
For me, just couple
things to tell you about.
I... So, when I was 19,
a sophomore in college...
you know, life was really good.
Then sophomore fall,
friends of mine and I,
we were screwing around
on our commuter train
and my buds and I,
we just climbed it
like you climb a tree.
There was just a parked
train just sitting there.
But when I stood up, I had
a metal watch on my wrist.
And when I stood up, I was close
enough to the power source,
the electricity arced to the
watch. Instantaneous big explosion,
and in a moment just, you know,
everything changed in a way.
I lost one arm below the elbow
and both legs below the knee,
and I came very close to death.
It broke me down.
My life was over. I
was just pure loss.
And I thought, "Who am I, now?"
This forced me to
reimagine myself.
Adaptation was only
going to get me so far.
I had to accept it.
And somewhere along the
way, it took me a few years,
but there came a point
where I let that old body,
that old sense of
self, I let him go.
He died.
What was in store for me...
I knew that my identity
didn't exist in my feet.
I look at myself in the mirror
every once in a while and say,
"This is my life. This is it.
This is... this is my life."
I think this is a part of
acceptance is where you actually
let the change happen.
Come on.
That's it.
Good girl.
That was a big,
big deal for me.
Those years following my
accident and learning to play
with how I saw
myself in the world.
My sense of self had expanded
to the point where not only
I could accommodate limb loss.
But I started making meaning and
making sense of my experience.
I went into medicine and
fell immediately in love
with palliative care.
People usually have a misunderstanding
of it that it's all about
end of life and death.
But my job is to treat
suffering and to help people
find meaning in their life.
So, you could also say it's
something of a philosophy.
Come on. Right here.
My story is dramatic, but it's
just a variation on a theme.
We all suffer, we all bump up
against things that we can't control.
And that brings us to
this point of acceptance
and that's a place where
I'm trying to move Chris.
Talking with BJ, I find
myself in awe of his attitude.
He went through one of
the toughest experiences
someone can go through
at a very young age too,
and yet he's accepted
that experience,
and I find that such a
beautiful approach to life.
So, are you starting
to get a little hint,
a little glimmer at this
thing called acceptance?
Yeah, I mean, one thing I've
accepted and come to terms with is
that I... I don't feel
invincible, you know.
And the really interesting thing that
certainly I think about is, like,
well, there will come a day when
you can't take the suit off and...
that's an intimidating...
- thought for me, you know?
- Mm-hmm.
- It's a big one.
- Yeah.
Yeah, so, it stirs
up a whole lot of
ideas and... and thoughts.
And, you know, I... I think just living
in that space of sort of goal-orientated
- kind of get through this checklist first.
- Mm-hmm.
It can also be sort of
dangerous, right? Like a...
- Absolutely.
- 'Cause it's the assumption
that you have time to get
through it rather than going...
Right.
- Man.
- There may not be a tomorrow.
Yeah, absolutely. Yep.
I've come to learn how hard it
is to actually be in the moment.
Is that a skill you have?
It's something I...
am aware that I... I...
I want to achieve...
and be better at, you know.
But...
you know. Being in it, being
brutally honest with myself.
I'm not. And now...
I'm sort of going, "What's
really important?" You know?
You know, I just feel like I'm sort of,
you know, busier and busier and busier,
and I'm not even with the
kids as much as I want to be.
But like, I think about it...
That a lot, you
know, and just...
Just the sort of
fragility of it all.
I just wanna get this right.
It...
I've been working so much for...
ten or twelve years now,
and found a lot of, you
know, my memories have...
it felt like they are in fast forward,
and wishing I had a sort of pause
and taken more time.
And...
it makes me think about a story
my mom was telling me about.
The experience she had recently,
where she thought she was facing the
end of her life for a brief moment.
And that she felt...
complete peace with
her experiences
in the fact that she had many
people around her that loved her,
many people that she loved
and she had a very full life,
and I think it affected
me because I...
I don't want to find myself
rushing through things anymore.
Yeah. This experience
is making me
want to press pause on
everything for a while
and then kind of be much
more present than I've been.
So, at this point, Chris
is opening up a little bit,
which is an invaluable moment
along the way to acceptance.
It's now time to make some of these
lessons more personal for him.
And explore the world
of emotional loss.
The finale of day two is
a dance at Sunset Pines.
Do you wanna
try this on, see if it fits?
What Chris doesn't know
is, at the dance, his wife,
his real wife, Elsa,
will be waiting for him.
Oh, my God.
And Elsa has signed up to be age 50
years through the magic of prosthetics.
Yeah, I don't feel bad
about my hands now.
- Look at my hands!
- Yeah. There ya go.
So, I'm
sitting in the chair,
and they started putting
on the prosthetics
and it start to
feel really weird.
I was like, I don't
want to do this.
It was a moment of,
like, "I can't do this."
Aging is...
is threatening,
especially with women
and in this society,
it made me think about
how much value we give to youth.
This is possibly the
most confrontational,
daring moment of this
whole experiment.
Chris does not know this is coming.
This is a big surprise for him.
Yeah, I can... I can
see my mom actually.
It just makes you feel like,
God is that where we gonna go
and be, you know. It's...
it's difficult.
But, you know,
what's interesting is,
we know from data that
most of us are less afraid
by our own frailty,
our own deaths
than we are at the deaths
of people we care for.
So, to explore this further,
we want Chris to meet another
resident of Sunset Pines.
Well, my name is Aisea Vakalalabure.
I'm a Fijian, from Fiji.
And I'm 88 years old.
And here's your table Mr. Hemsworth.
I like you to meet Aisea.
Aisea?
- Hi Chris, pleased to meet you.
- You too.
Do you know
who Chris Hemsworth is?
No.
No.
How do you feel now coming
to this life of retirement?
- How...
- Very different, very different.
A lot of wonderful
people though, you know?
It's been a very
unique experience.
Well, I'll tell you
being an elderly person
is the best thing,
aging is very important in life.
BJ said it was a... a great
opportunity to meet you
because you have
an important story.
Well.
I come from Fiji and I
come from a chiefly family,
and my eldest brother we were very close.
I was closer to him than to my parents.
To him, I am the
small baby brother
but to me, he's everything.
And everywhere he goes
I'm always behind him.
I was his shadow.
From childhood, right up until
we went to the army
he's always there,
and he's always
looking after me.
And I look at him as a father,
big brother, and my protector.
When our father died,
being the eldest of the family,
he had to take over
the role of chief.
And he became a good chief,
and the people loved him.
Unfortunately, this
didn't last long.
He became sick.
When he died,
my world came crumbling down.
And I lost
the man that I loved,
my real brother.
And I was devastated,
the loss that I suffered
is unmeasurable.
But in Fijian society
there is a period of mourning
of 100 days and 100 nights
when the whole village
is closed down.
No singing. No
playing. No nothing.
And as the 100 days began,
I didn't want to
be around people
let alone lead a community.
And I thought to myself
will I be good enough?
Will they respect me as
they respected my brother?
I can't do this.
But 100 days is a long time.
It gives you time to think.
To learn, to be
more open to others.
To grow.
Day after day.
Every sunrise.
Every sunset.
The grief was changing me.
And that was how I accepted
I must stand up.
Follow his footsteps,
put on his shoes,
though big it may be,
and accept the role
of being a chief.
What I really want Chris
to learn from Aisea's example
is the importance of giving
ourself time and space
to have very difficult feelings.
Life includes incredible sorrow,
incredible sadness, and that those,
just like aging aren't our enemy,
they're just part of the deal.
You will lose
the people you love.
But I was a better
community leader
a better man, because
of those hundred days.
And so, I learnt
grief is beautiful.
Sounds like where you're from
there's far more acceptance
and welcoming of
that transition.
You know, I believe
that Western society
don't give enough
time to grieve.
Grief is good.
That’s what I believe in.
Gentlemen, here are your meals.
This is Sunset Pines
finest, and, Mr. Hemsworth,
we'll be looking forward to seeing
you at our weekly dance this evening.
- Bon appetit.
- Thank you.
Dancing?
- Should be fun.
- Yes.
It's great talking to Aisea
and so good to hear his story.
But the idea of losing
the people you love,
I think is the scariest thing
and that's not really something
I'm ready to accept just yet.
Sorry, Elsa. Is it okay
if you just keep your eyes closed
- for a little while?
- Mm-hmm.
Just while we do
this. Thank you.
So, the last part of day
two, we come to the dance,
and this is where we confront
Chris with Elsa, his beloved wife.
But now Elsa is the one
who's aged 50 years.
This could be good, or
it could be very tragic.
I don't know what's
going to happen.
Looking at myself,
it's really confronting,
and so real, like,
really, really real.
I feel really vulnerable.
And I'm not sure I want
Chris to see me like this.
Yeah.
- Chris, there you are. Now...
- You all right?
I have set you up
with a fantastic date.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, now, I know you're married.
- But we won't tell your wife, okay?
- Yeah, yeah, but?
Come with me. Come
on now. Don't be shy.
- Okay, I'm not shy. I know.
- Not shy though?
- Nervous not... not shy though.
- Oh, okay. See the lady in pink there?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Go get her, boy!
Excuse me, I think
I'm your date.
Oh, my God.
- It's so weird!
- Look at you.
Oh, my God.
Is it... I just wanna touch
your shoulder and I was like...
"Oh, my God. I
know this person."
Did you know?
Oh, wow.
Hello.
Still beautiful.
I think this moment
we will remember forever.
It was so deep
and so unexpected.
I felt safe.
It
was so beautiful.
- Do you expect it, you know? Not at all?
- I don't know what was going on.
I mean, this
is a wild experience.
Looking at my wife having aged 50 years
and it was a strange mixture of emotions
of sort of...
love, joy, empathy...
and then also
kind of absurd in
a brilliant way.
It's been such a weird...
day, like, I don't know.
Just thinking about...
life and death and
everything. And then, this...
For me, today was, like,
I was just putting on 50 years.
- Yeah. Yep.
- And it's really, really shocking,
not... not having
those years to adapt.
And I think nature
gave you that...
- steps to get used to me in a way.
- Yeah.
It's pretty intense diving straight
into. This is what... Yeah.
Yeah. It's just... it's
really confronting.
No, it was quite shocking
when I saw you then.
I was like, "Oh! Wait, wait."
Been robbed of 50 years.
It was kind of like...
it was kind of,
you're at the tail end of
things maybe.
Got a little... a little
sort of teary-eyed.
- I want to live those years with you.
- Yeah.
We need those memories, yeah?
Should we dance?
Should we dance? Sure.
Be careful with my back.
You gotta be careful. You just
try and keep up, all right?
You all right? Moving slow.
Maybe with this experience, we've
ratcheted down Chris's anxieties
or fears around aging and death,
so that he gets to see this
idea that aging ain't so bad.
And that love
actually really
can hold you through
just about anything.
I think what is quite confronting
is approaching that age on my own.
What makes it less scary
is having someone to
experience it with.
You know, having people
around you that you love,
makes me feel a lot more...
accepting.
Sorry, I have to go.
Okay.
I love you.
I love you too.
One of the really important
lessons that Chris needs to learn
is where there is
love, there is loss.
There will be losses
in his own life.
It's not if, it's when.
And this sets us up for the next
piece of this very strange odyssey...
Where we're moving from aging
into mortality, into death.
Good morning, residents.
It's yet another beautiful
day here at Sunset Pines,
where we live every
day to the fullest.
Theater Club is starting soon.
And don't forget, there's bingo
in the village hall this evening.
Oh, and we also want to
formally welcome Mr. Hemsworth,
who's already settling right in.
I feel quite immersed, and
at home in the experience now.
And I'm just trying to
be constantly open to it.
Makes me realize, you know,
this... this might not be as bad
as I thought it was gonna be.
So here we are at the beginning
of day three, our final day,
and we're moving now
towards death, mortality.
- Hello.
- Hi.
I wanted to introduce Chris
to my friend and colleague...
Alua Arthur. And she works as,
what's called a death doula.
Now tell me, what
exactly is a death doula?
So, a death doula is somebody
who does all the non-medical care
and support of the dying person
and the family through the process.
We essentially walk people
toward the end of life.
Wow.
So, if you were talking
a lot about the end of life.
Today, we're gonna talk
about your mortality.
Okay.
- Okay?
- Yeah.
So we have a little
exercise prepared for you,
a little bit of
exposure therapy...
- All right.
- To get you ready for that.
- Okay.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
- Okay, let's go check it out.
So, as you see,
- we have a bunch of coffins here for you.
- Wow.
Yeah, you have a chance
to take a look at them,
see what you like, see
what you don't like.
- I... I have to choose one?
- Yeah, that'd be great.
- Wow.
- You can do a little shopping,
take a look around, see
what you're interested in,
what you're drawn to.
What an odd concept. This is a
little kind of dollhouse vibe.
- It is.
- So I'll maybe not go there.
- We have a beautiful...
- Yeah.
Pine one here.
All the sort of fancy timbers feel
a little bit of a waste, don't they?
To bury those in the ground.
Feels like that should be
furniture or something.
Maybe cardboard. Compostable.
Really economical too.
- Yeah.
- They are totally compostable,
- biodegradable.
- Yeah.
Everything like that.
I mean, I'm not gonna... I'm not gonna
need much where I'm going, I guess.
Breathes well?
Breathes well, beautiful,
natural, Moses vibes.
- Extra-large picnic basket. Good.
- Absolutely. Here we have a mahogany one.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah, really beautiful.
This one has been built
specifically for your body.
Maybe you might wanna
check it out, get in it?
- Yeah, cool.
- Ready?
- Just jump straight in there, right?
- Yeah, take it easy.
My hope, in looking
at the coffins with Chris,
is that he will connect to his
own body one day in those coffins.
And so he starts to think
of his death itself.
- Yeah, you already got the position down.
- Yeah, look at that.
- Just like that.
- It's weird... I feel like a vampire.
- Yeah, well, close.
- Just going away for the...
long night.
- Also called death?
- Yeah.
Yeah.
- Done.
- Well...
We're scared about
talking about death
'cause it makes us
really uncomfortable,
like it's something wrong.
Trees die, flowers die, animals
die, car batteries die, humans die.
It was... it was a strange
experience, wasn't it?
What do you think of
coffins generally?
You... I don't know, I kind of maybe
would prefer to be cremated, I guess.
Rather than cocooned
up in some space,
there's something sort of
claustrophobic about that thought.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
And maybe you could just...
You could throw me in the ocean
and the sharks could
have at me, and...
- Throw your body in the ocean?
- Yeah.
I'm curious about how you
view what happens after death.
I don't know. I remember as a
kid, sort of lying awake at night,
thinking about the
idea of nothing,
you know, and... poof... just
that's it, you know, forever...
- Yeah.
- You know? And not just forever,
- but forever, forever, forever, you know?
- Forever.
And it used to kinda...
And it'd, like, keep me up.
You know, it was this, like,
just that complete
empty, nothing,
gone kind of idea.
Scared the hell out of me.
The reality is, as we know, that
it could be at any point in time...
- Yeah.
- Right? You know, often people
think about the end of life
as some faraway notion.
Like it's something that
happens out there, over there
and it comes far sooner than
most people are ready for,
which is why opportunities like this one,
to be present to mortality, is so useful.
What would you say the
biggest thing you've learned
through talking to people
at the end of their days?
Being with somebody
as they have just
stopped breathing,
to feel the incredible
stillness in the room
after life has just left a body,
is the most simple,
yet the most profound.
In that life really does
hang on a single breath.
It's there one minute and
then it's gone the next.
And when it's gone, it
reminds me that I still have
the capacity to breathe, and to
live, and to be engaged, and to love,
and to laugh, and to...
be joyful, and to
wear color, and to...
- Yeah, yeah.
- Hug, and, you know, dance,
and to live, to live.
Yeah.
That's beautiful.
Later on, today, we're gonna
do a death-bed meditation.
- Mm.
- Get you closer to your death.
Okay, great.
For now, there's somebody I want
you to meet before we do that.
- Okay.
- You ready?
- Yeah.
- Let's go.
One of the benefits for somebody
as young and as vital as Chris
to be talking and thinking about death
is that it really does drive home
the conversation that this is
possible for anybody at any time.
- Natalie.
- Hello, Chris.
But that young people
also become sick.
Saw you in art
class the other day.
Yeah. Hi.
Hi. Alua said that
we should speak.
Yeah. Well, I'm here to
tell you about my experience
with stage-four cancer.
And to be honest, I don't know
how much time I have left.
I'm 27 now.
But when I was 20, I was diagnosed
with stage-three melanoma.
It got into my lymph nodes.
And so, surgery
was my only option.
So, they cut off my toe, they
got rid of all my lymph nodes.
And for a 20-year-old, you can imagine,
your life got turned upside-down.
- Yeah.
- And...
from there on, I have thought about
death every single day of my life.
No one at 20 expects to
be diagnosed with cancer.
No one prepares you for
a diagnosis like that.
And especially, like, the
effects it has on your family,
and your friends, and my whole
world changed, pretty much,
like, overnight.
Cancer became my
overall identity.
Essentially, I was referred
to as the sick one.
For a little while there,
I was... I was really lost.
And I needed to find that
person who I once was before.
Yeah.
And so, off I
went, I went to Venice.
Not to run away, more to be in a
place where no one knew my story,
so I could truly figure out myself
and how to live alongside this cancer.
And I met a boy, I fell in love.
And he just saw me for
me, which was, honestly,
really, really beautiful.
Alexander is genuine and kind.
And I've often referred
to him as my oak tree.
He's the person who's just standing
steadfast and he keeps me steady.
When you have cancer, you
don't know if you can be loved.
And your relationship
with love and yourself...
pretty much goes
out of the window.
Love is the most
amazing thing that we have,
and that we can
experience in this world.
And the fact that I get to
experience his love, you know...
he makes me so happy.
And these are happy tears.
But three months into our
love story, I came home,
and I had a routine scan, and they told
me that the cancer was back in my lungs.
And now, I was stage four.
So, I told him.
And then I said, "I'm
breaking up with you."
And he just turned around
and was like, "No."
And he was like,
"I'm in this."
And he says, "I choose all
the time with you that I have.
It doesn't matter if
it's long, if it's short.
Well, I choose you."
It's probably because of my diagnosis
of the way that I look at time.
The time that anybody
has is so precious.
So, if you just dive in headfirst,
and use whatever time that you have
because nobody knows their timelines.
So, we're just going to love each other.
And we're gonna love each
other no matter what.
No matter how much
time we have left.
You know, we
talked about acceptance.
How are you with... with acceptance?
With that word or with the idea of it?
I've thought about death every
single day for the past seven years.
Have I accepted my mortality?
Yes and no.
I think people have a very
funny relationship with aging,
they get really scared of it.
But in truth, I
would love to age.
I would love nothing
more than to get old,
and I think that's a gift.
We're all... we're
all gonna die one day.
So, you have to really live life as
much as like you can and enjoy it.
To soak up every single moment.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Your life
could end at any time.
So just enjoy life, enjoy time,
make the most of it.
And love as much as you can.
This is a heartbreaking
experience, talking to Natalie
and listening to her
story and... and...
hearing someone...
talk with such grace
and... and maturity
about something so,
so uncertain is,
is really inspiring.
- Hello.
- Good to see you.
- How are you?
- I'm great, man.
How was your chat with Natalie?
Yeah, an incredible individual.
Could you feel that...
This idea that there...
tomorrow isn't guaranteed?
Yeah.
There's no certainty around
that at all. Do you feel that?
Absolutely. Yeah.
There was this sort of...
essential need to, sort
of, shake the world
and get this message out and
say, "Do not mess around,
do not take it for granted.
Soak up every moment."
And that is sort of the running
theme I've sort of felt with people.
Yeah, it's also to kinda...
weave together
in a sort of... a... a better
understanding of it all.
So,
we have come to the end of the... Of
your time at Sunset Pines, brother.
All that's left for you to
do is walk through that door.
And...
whatever you find
there, just go with it.
Okay.
This is the boldest part
of this whole experiment.
Thanks, brother.
We are going to push
our immersive theater
to its limits.
All right.
We're gonna get you
to the hospital.
Cardiac arrest, 180 over 120.
Let's go, let's go.
Oxygen running. Breathe deep.
Chris, Chris!
- Chris, can you hear me?
- I'm not getting a pulse. Get clear.
Clothing clear.
- That was intense, huh?
- Yeah, very strange.
- Quite the experience.
- It was... Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know if you're
seeing me at this point,
things probably didn't
go according to plan.
Yeah.
So, we're going to do
the death meditation now.
The intention for this meditation is
to bring you into greater awareness
of the end of your life and also
to create renewed engagement
- with life as it is.
- Yeah.
So, you can begin by
closing your eyes.
And now take a deep breath in.
Repeat to yourself,
"My death is inevitable."
"My death is inevitable."
On the out-breath,
"I too will die."
"I too will die."
We're going to
take you on a journey.
Everyone you've met and
everything you've done
has been leading to this.
On the in-breath,
- you will grow old.
- You will grow old.
And on the out-breath,
repeat, "Your body will fail."
Your body will fail.
Once you've
learned to accept
you can actually find something
even deeper and more valuable.
On the in-breath, "You
will lose the people you love."
"You will lose
the people you love."
You will lose
the people you love.
And on the out-breath,
repeat... "Grief is beautiful."
Grief is beautiful.
On the in-breath, "Your
life could end at any time."
Your life
could end at any time.
Your life
could end at any time.
- "You too, will die."
- "You, too, will die."
You, too, will die.
He is my oak tree.
Just enjoy time...
And love as much as you can.
As you see yourself on your
deathbed now in your mind's eye,
look closely at who is
surrounding your bedside.
Who is holding your hand?
Your body is weakening...
and you're beginning
to dissolve.
Release
attachment to Elsa.
Release attachment
to your children.
Your loved ones cannot save you.
You will create no new memories.
Now you surrender...
and release into death.
And you find yourself gaining acceptance
that one day your life will end.
You may open your eyes
and blow out this candle.
- Hello.
- Hey.
Hey! Come here.
Yeah, come on.
Come on. Have a seat.
Either way.
Another unique experience.
How was it? How'd you find it?
It felt really peaceful.
It just felt...
It didn't feel intimidating,
it felt sort of like I was off floating
down a river or something, you know?
Onto the next place,
wherever that was. And...
It's just...
When you said, "Think of the
place you'd be or you wanna be.
Who would be around you when
you're dying, when it's happening."
And I was just imagining myself in
my living room with all my family
and friends around and...
And then it sort of
struck me, I was like,
"This is what I have
all the time." Like...
- how lucky I am, you know?
- Right on.
- Yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah.
It's a very familiar place
and experience for me.
And it doesn't feel
lonely at all, it feels...
it feels like any other Sunday,
when I'm surrounded
by loved ones.
Oh, the... the conversation we'd
have in the last couple of days
about, you know, just feeling
like I've been missing things
or doing too much, and
I just had a moment of
kind of calm and...
pause about it all, and thought,
it's... it's all great, sure
I can do things differently,
but not to look at anything
past as it having been a mistake
or being done wrong.
And then, that sort of
strange parallel with
this idea of acceptance of death
and letting go, and also
with life and letting go,
and doesn't mean you let go of
the steering wheel completely,
but just kind of enjoying the ride
and enjoying the view, you know?
There's something very peaceful
about that... that acceptance.
And maybe it's fun the circle
back to this Sunset Pines.
This sort of, what feels
maybe like a tacky tagline.
"Sunset Pines, where we live
every day to the fullest."
- But the clue is in that title all along.
- Yeah.
Welcome,
Mr. Hemsworth, to Sunset Pines,
where we live every
day to the fullest.
Welcome to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
Welcome to Sunset Pines, where
we live every day to the fullest.
Thank you.
Hello.
That was the real instruction.
"Live every day to the fullest."
- You all right?
- You all right?
How was it?
It was awesome. It's
pretty... pretty special.
You can do it. It
only takes three days.
Yeah, yeah.
We tend to treat life
as this right that we have.
And that by virtue
of being born,
we have a right to life, we
have a right to a tomorrow.
No. Life is a gift.
Another day is a gift.
- Before you go, can you sign my picture?
- Sure.
A full life is one that
includes death, includes pain.
But if we can be grateful
for yet another minute
on this beautiful, crazy
planet. Imagine that.
Hey!
This is my oak tree.
- Indy, quick, quick, quick.
- Life doesn't come
at some point in the future,
when you finally find that
person, or lose that weight,
or stop working so much, or get
that job, or whatever it is,
it's happening right
now. You're in it.
You're living it.
- Thank you, buddy.
- All right, see you.
The truth is that
we're not limitless.
Thanks, guys.
This experience has come
at the right time for me.
At a time in my life where I
really wanna focus on what matters.
And it all matters.
Every moment.
Every smile. Every tear.
- Daddy!
- Every kiss.
All of it.
This has brought you joy?
- Absolutely.
- Excellent.
Hey, Chris!
Living my longest,
healthiest, happiest life.
That's gonna be the
work of a lifetime.
Tell you
what. That's a wrap.
Well done, everybody.
Jake, cut!