“The reason to watch is the charming man in the spotlight, possibly the most likable protagonist you will see this year.”

What’s the old saying? “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.” Lucky for Tayfun that he is in the business of death then. A Turkish undertaker in Belgium, specializing in helping fellow Turks be buried in their country of birth, Tayfun has a booming business. With 400,000 Turks in Belgium and only two undertakers specializing in these kinds of arrangements, there is no shortage of customers, as morbid as that may sound. Death is a serious thing that deserves respect, but in Tayfun’s world it is also a business, and business is in his blood. Through 2m², Turkish-Belgian director Volkan Üce’s portrayal of this jovial man, a light is cast on the question that many migrants face: where is my home, and where lies my heart?

It’s a difficult question, one that even Tayfun himself wrestles with, and since this is a film with death as one of its main themes, the question is made concrete in the issue of what happens after one’s demise: where do you want to be buried? In a scene that gives perhaps the clearest, but definitely the most emotional insight into how deep this issue runs, we see Tayfun himself, back in Türkiye on a business trip, sitting at the graves of his close family. He has to get something off his chest to them: he has decided that he will be buried in Belgium, where his four daughters reside and are forging their lives. A confession in tears cuts to the bone, and the otherwise upbeat character becomes a blubbering mess. “You have snot all over you, you idiot,” he chides himself, ending the scene on a tender moment of comedy. A weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He loves his country, and as a religious man he feels he may be hurting his forebearers, but what is left for him in Türkiye? Meeting with locals, he gets berated for leaving: “Because of your absence, your family’s prominence has ended.” Belgium is his country now. It’s where his business is, it’s where his daughters are. He speaks Flemish without much of an accent. But the pain still runs deep, the hurt of leaving your family behind, of leaving your country behind.

In parallel with this emotional core of 2m², the film also focuses on the practicalities of Tayfun’s business. The costs of transporting a body to Türkiye (the body is charged as cargo, which goes by weight; the heavier the deceased, the more it costs); the problems relatives who want to accompany the body can run into, such as young men who haven’t fulfilled the obligatory military duty (Türkiye will not let them leave the country if they get caught); the question of which of his daughters will take over Tayfun’s business when the time comes (thinking of death is habitual in his profession). And then there is the monetary side of it, both in Belgium and in his native country, where he and his local partner try to get the best deals on burial paraphernalia and promotional giveaways for his company. We see him hustle at town fairs, or go to an exhibition to look at the latest the undertaking industry has to offer with a sober, business-minded eye. Tayfun discussing cute baby coffins and how best to dress them with a seller is confrontational, but also a sad fact of life: infants die too.

But the heart of 2m² is not his business, it’s Tayfun himself. A hardworking man with a nose for opportunities, a doting father, a consummate professional with a consoling word at the right moment, and a man with some gallows humor from time to time. The peek behind the curtain of an undertaker is fascinating and informative; the emotional weight of what a death can mean for families who are torn between two countries is carefully rendered; the images of graves for which the lease has not been extended being dug up is confrontational and poignant (even death doesn’t last forever). But the reason to watch is the charming man in the spotlight, possibly the most likable protagonist you will see this year.