A group of women, led by Mrs. Smith, petitioned the council to redevelop a World War II bomb site into a children's playground.

Williams then chooses to withdraw half of his life savings, purchase a lethal amount of sleeping medicine, and commit suicide in a seaside resort town.

Returning to London but not to work, Williams runs into Miss Margaret Harris, a young former subordinate who took up a position at a Lyon's Corner House restaurant while he was away.

Williams's nosy neighbour spots the pair having lunch at the high-end restaurant Fortnum's and tells Fiona, who demands Michael speak to his father about the potential scandal.

Realising the best way to spend his remaining time is to do some good, Williams rallies the various departments to approve the construction of the children's playground.

Visiting the playground, Wakeling meets a police officer who tells him that he saw Williams there shortly before he died, rocking in the swing in the snow and singing the Scottish folk song "The Rowan Tree."

Shortly after, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film for North and Latin America, India, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Germany, South Africa, Southeast Asia and airlines worldwide for around $5 million in an auction that also included Neon, Bleecker Street and Focus Features among others.

[6][7] Living screened at the 66th BFI London Film Festival in October 2022[8] and at the TCL Chinese Theatre as part of the 2022 AFI Fest on 6 November 2022.

[12] Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "Living isn't a great movie—it's a little too subdued at times and has a tendency to fixate on Williams' mostly unarticulated sadness—but it's consistently involving.