Editor’s Note: This article discusses suicide and may be distressing for some readers. If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the The 988 Lifeline, a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
The heartbreaking final moments of Avicii‘s life are revisited in a new documentary, Avicii: I’m Tim, which premiered over the weekend at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
The film airs never-before-heard interviews with the legendary DJ, whose real name was Tim Bergling. Ubiquitously known as one of the most virtuosic dance music producers of all-time, Bergling in 2018 died by suicide at the age of 28 after grappling with mental health struggles contrived largely from a grueling tour schedule.
Avicii: I’m Tim also features commentary from a number of Bergling’s collaborators and contemporaries, like Jesse Waits, a Las Vegas nightlife entrepreneur and Nightclub Hall of Fame inductee. Waits saw firsthand the pernicious effect of painkillers on Bergling, who he said was “like a brother.”
“His eyes were wide open like a zombie—he was not there,” Waits said. “At the dinner, his demeanor changed and his eyes dilated. That changes everything. Those pills change how you act and how you feel. You wake up feeling like shit and have to have another one to feel good. For him, it was to suppress his anxiety, but it just created more anxiety.”
Sean Eriksson
In a particularly heartbreaking interview with Bergling, one of the last he ever gave, he laments his reliance on pills to challenge the limits of his mental fortitude while touring.
“I just took everything that I could,” he said. “I didn’t realize you could do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But once that opened up, you could tour the whole year. I was killing myself. The touring went even more crazy because the fees were getting higher. Everything went so fast from that point on.”
Directed by Henrik Burman, Avicii: I’m Tim is the latest venture developed to pay homage to Bergling, whose family in 2019 launched a foundation that funds research and develops preventative solutions for young people experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lawrence Bender is currently producing a new documentary about Avicii with “previously unreleased footage” recorded around the time of his discovery and rise to fame. Meanwhile, the investment firm Pophouse Entertainment is planning to develop a musical about Bergling after purchasing a majority stake in his catalog back in 2022.
Find out more about Avicii: I’m Tim and its screenings here.