Teo Ser Lee taps into personal grief to play role in upcoming movie Good Goodbye

At the end of one's life, what makes for a "good goodbye"?

An upcoming local movie of the same name, made up of three interconnected stories discussing death, dying and palliative care in Singapore, aims to discuss just that.

AsiaOne asked cast member Teo Ser Lee the same question at Good Goodbye's lensing ceremony yesterday (Nov 9).

The former beauty queen and returning actress said: "It's to have quality and dignity. It's the saying, 'Adding life to your days and not days to your life'."

Ser Lee, 57, acts as a speech therapist for a terminally ill young patient (Aster Yeow) in the movie.

"She comes to me for therapy, and I have to encourage her, I have to be with her the whole time, to push her knowing she doesn't have many days left," she elaborated. "So I'm trying my best in the show to add quality to her life."

When asked if Ser Lee had something personal to draw up those emotions from, she couldn't hold back her tears.

"Yep, when my mum passed on — that was like 12 years ago, and I was the main caregiver and it was difficult," she said.

When she first read the script, Ser Lee could relate as her mother, like the young patient she takes care of in the movie, also had cancer.

"That's how I thought I could [relate] with being a speech therapist because I was a caregiver, and I had to encourage my mum and push her, and make it seem like there was a chance of recovery when there wasn't."

Good Goodbye is directed by Daniel Yam and stars Tosh Zhang, Julie Tan, Shane Pow, Yang Shi Bin and Andie Chen, and shows people going through end-of-life care and those who are providing it.

Ser Lee finds the narrative particularly poignant as she believes there is a disconnect between what caregivers often want and what terminally ill patients want.

"I find that, for a lot of people, the caregivers, you want the best for your loved ones, right?" she said. "For the person who's going to die, you want to find the best treatment, the best doctor and everything just to prolong their life, knowing you're buying them time.

"But this may not be what the patient wants. The patient may really want comfort, peace, loved ones around them. They want to die with dignity."

Ser Lee added: "I think it's good to respect the person's wishes. I think it's very important to have a good death."

'I want to play a very common auntie'

Good Goodbye marks Ser Lee's second movie since her comeback earlier this year with Untold Secrets.

She told us that it wasn't difficult for her to "return" to showbiz as she felt like she never really left, working part-time with Mediacorp and even having a stint in radio.

Professionally, Ser Lee is an etiquette and image consultant, but she has started making retirement preparations "since last year" so she can act more. She also has upcoming projects planned out with Mediacorp.

When asked what kind of roles she wanted to try, Ser Lee said: "I want to play a very common auntie. Someone who will spend days at the void deck chit-chatting with friends with nothing better to do, or a hawker, or spending days at the wet market."

It's not that she doesn't go to the wet market to do her shopping, but those roles aren't usually associated with the former Miss Singapore contestant.

"Usually, for these kind of aunties, you cannot be very glam," she continued. "You cannot have your hair done, with nice makeup and jewellery and all that."

Ser Lee added that she's always been given roles of working professionals, "like the general manager of a multinational company" or a tai tai, and would like to try something different.

"At least then people can see that, 'Oh, actually she's just like everyone else', which I am."

Good Goodbye is set to release in 2024.

drimac@asiaone.com

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