A German actress, Leonie Benesch, who stars in the film “Heldin”, was exposed to the concept of death at a young age due to her father’s profession as a priest in the Christengemeinschaft. In an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”, Benesch mentioned that her parents would take her to a mortuary in a Bielefeld church, where she would observe the deceased being viewed by their relatives for three days.
Benesch described this early exposure to death as a fascinating experience, saying that it allowed her to understand the significance of the process. She noted that, as a result, her current role in the film as a nurse is not unfamiliar to her, as she had often accompanied her parents to the mortuary as a child.
The actress attributed her positive perspective on death to her early experiences. She stated that, as a child, she would ask questions about the end of life and the fate of the human body and that she finds it absurd how society tends to separate death from everyday life.
Benesch believes that this separation is unnatural, as it is a part of daily life in hospitals and care homes and that it would be more natural to confront and discuss death openly.