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The Documentary: Real America: Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage

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BBC World Service - The Documentary, Real America, Bon Voyage

A dying man and his husband try to meet death in style.

A dying man and his husband try to meet death in style with a "bon voyage party", but realise dying cannot be choreographed. PLease note Paul Perkovic died on 26 November 2012.

Bon Voyage brings the listener along on the intimate, emotional journey of a same-sex couple coping with mortality. It's about how we try to meet death on our own terms, but death has its own agenda.

Paul Perkovic is dying of inoperable pancreatic cancer - he's 65. Paul isn't picking out his death shroud, though. He's sizing his tuxedo. 

Rather than let Paul hunker down and wait to succumb, Paul's husband Eric Trefelner, throws him a lavish "bon voyage party" at San Francisco's finest museum. The $250,000 bash is meant to commemorate not only the end of a life, but also the end of a life together.

When relationship breakdowns develop that neither man expects, Paul and Eric confront deep-seated problems and realise that dying - unlike a party - cannot be choreographed.

*** Update: Paul Perkovic died on 26 November 2012, in Eric Trefelner's arms at their home in Montara, California ***

Producer: Julia Scott

(Image: Paul Perkovic (L) and Eric Trefelner (R))

The Documentary: Real America

BBC World Service

A series of documentaries showing a different slice of American life.

A series of documentaries showing a different slice of American life, made by US producers, a BBC Public Radio partnership.

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