Personalistic cinema knows a great deal about bioethics because, especially in Christmas-themed films, it proposes that we love life above all circumstances, as in  It’s  a Wonderful  Life ( 1946). Or it invites us to grow and mature in true love, as in  An Affair to Remember  ( 1957  ), Leo McCarey’s self-remake of his 1939 film,  Love Affair  . Or, faced with the threats of a mercantilist logic incapable of understanding forgiveness, it encourages us to experience the power of a merciful love that is at the origin of life, as in  Let’s Have a Peaceful Party  (1921) by Juan Manuel Cotelo, starring Carlos Aguillo.

Those of us who are interested in bioethics are people, and our universe of beliefs influences our way of approaching science.

The Christmas holiday season, almost since the invention of cinema, has featured films on this theme. It might be appropriate to revisit some of them, especially those considered cinematic classics. But we should also highlight some contemporary films that connect directly with this great tradition. And why on the website of a Bioethics Observatory whose primary mission is scientific clarification? For a very direct reason that we have been developing in this philosophy and film section: because those of us interested in bioethics are human beings, and our belief system influences how we approach science. And film is a powerful artistic and philosophical medium for disarming us and revealing what lies beneath our reasoning.

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful  Life  ( 1946) is part of a Christmas ritual for many families—not only in the United States, where there’s a fan club for the film: gathering in front of the television to watch it again. And it never gets old. Why? Because for much of the film, we witness the struggles of a good man, George Bailey (James Stewart), who strives to act with integrity and commit to his father’s social mission, so that families have the most basic necessity for living as families: decent housing. Overwhelmed by what he perceives as a failure, he’s tempted to end it all. And at that moment, divine intervention occurs in the form of Clarence, a kindly angel (Henry Travers), who gives him a unique glimpse into what life would have been like for his wife Mary (Donna Reed), his parents and other relatives, and his entire town, had he never existed.

And while Capra shows us on screen that George Bailey has the privilege of living his own family world as if it were real, as if he had never existed, when he finally awakens because he wholeheartedly desires to continue living, he finds that Mary has mobilized everyone who has ever received George’s help to come forward and reciprocate. The angel in heaven is Clarence; his angel on earth is his wife. And both converge on the need to preserve the meaning of life, a fundamental premise for any bioethics to fulfill its mission without contradictions. This is self-evident for a personalist bioethics and, at the same time, a challenge for other proposals that aspire to be worthy of the status of an ethics of life.

The essence of this film is that it is better to have been born, that life has meaning, whatever its bitterness and difficulties

Julián Marías masterfully summarized the meaning of  It’s a Wonderful Life.

The essence of this film is that it’s better to have been born, that life has meaning, whatever its bitterness and difficulties, and that the benefits that follow from an ordinary and, to some extent, frustrated life path are incomparably greater than one thinks, than the person involved can even imagine… And all this through the power of imagination. That’s why the film culminates with the appearance of Clarence, Second-Class Angel… To show George that he shouldn’t commit suicide or despair, that it’s better to live, that it’s always better to have been born, Clarence shows him the city of the future, the one that would have been if he, George, hadn’t come to live. The tour of the city, the presence of the evils he has unknowingly avoided, of the good he has unwittingly produced; the anguish, on the other hand, of his world being alien to him, of no one knowing him, since in that imaginary city, nothing exists. This constitutes a fragment of the best cinema in all of history. ^[1]

Such a perspective on life is only coherent if it goes back to the very first moment of existence and is contemplated with the humility that George has shown in looking at his own life, not as something he has built but as something he has received as a gift. Carola Minguet aptly and vividly expresses this on behalf of those systematically and deliberately most forgotten in abortion debates: the parents who suffer the loss of their son or daughter as something unwanted.

…the life of the child who has barely begun in this world already breathes eternally in the next. It is not a failed life.

In miscarriage, one glimpses—in a terrible yet tender way, as cruel as it is luminous—the true pulse of Advent, understanding that what is most fragile contains the most eternity. And so, the creature that barely opened its eyes in the maternal womb, snatched away before uttering its first audible heartbeat, becomes a kind of firefly that guides our night, for it is a tiny life that God claims for himself not as failure, but as anticipation. ^[2]

Like cinema—like philosophy, or like the journalistic opinion column—  It’s a Wonderful Life  doesn’t prove scientifically but rather shows, proposes reflection, and challenges our own freedom. It can be received as a plea for bioethics to always be ready to defend life in all its circumstances, against the increasingly widespread ambitions of a profit-driven logic that sees everything as a business opportunity. It’s a reminder of the failure of these new King Midases, who, in trying to turn everything they touch into gold, end up flooding the very sources of life.

The maturation in the learning of love

An Affair to Remember  ( 1957  ) is a self-remake by Leo McCarey of his 1939 film,  Love Affair  . The biggest change is the lead actors: Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in 1957, and Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne in 1939. But the 1957 version also has a stronger Christmas feel. We witness a miracle on that very day.

Let’s set the scene. A gigolo, Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), who is finally about to marry a millionaire, and a kept woman, Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr), meet on an ocean liner. What initially seems like a flirtation ends up being the discovery of true love, unlike any fling they’ve ever experienced. How? During a stopover, he invites her to meet his grandmother, who lives near the port. The elderly woman resides in a kind of garden/retreat, dedicated to prayer, waiting to be reunited with her deceased husband. When she sees Terry, she mistakes her for her grandson’s fiancée. What seems like a misunderstanding actually becomes a prophetic vision. The young woman asks to enter her chapel, and the old woman invites Nickie to accompany her. There, kneeling before an image of the Virgin Mary, something decisively changes in their souls. The subsequent conversation with Grandma Janou (Cathleen Nessbitt) introduces them to a very unique spiritual atmosphere. Nickie reveals himself to be a talented painter who abandoned his vocation early on, and Terry to be a singer of merit.

Back on the ship, they become engaged and agree to a six-month period to see if they can find work and live with dignity again. They both succeed, but when they go to meet at the Empire State Building, “the closest thing to heaven in New York,” she is hit by a car and unable to make it. She is badly injured, and it’s uncertain whether she will ever walk again. In this state, she doesn’t want anyone to tell Nickie anything so that he won’t marry her out of pity. Regarding this, Miguel Marías explains:

It would have been too easy for everything to have gone well. It never is, and in their case it wasn’t even plausible that they would achieve their goal without having to undergo some additional trial. Undoubtedly, more time was needed than their barely restrained desire and impatience had set as the waiting period. A misunderstanding, an accident, was necessary to then have to overcome, in addition, the obstacles of disappointment, wounded pride, the lack of explanations, apparent deception or apparent forgetfulness, failure and illness, misfortune and disenchantment or discouragement, in any of its varied forms, from resignation to skepticism. ^[3]  (Marías M.: 2012, 20).

McCarey seems to think that simply being able to have a great time together isn’t enough to form a bond.

And the miracle happens at Christmas, once again orchestrated by the elderly woman. Grandmother Janou, during her grandson’s visit, promised to send Terry a crocheted shawl that had captivated the young woman. Disappointed that his fiancée didn’t appear at the appointed place, Nickie returns to visit his grandmother, only to find she has passed away. Janou’s gardener gives him the shawl so that, in his grandmother’s memory, he can deliver it to Miss McKay. The now somewhat successful painter decides to find Terry’s address and visit her. When he arrives at her house, he finds her reclining on a sofa. But he suspects nothing. After subtly reproaching her for not having shown up or offered an explanation, and seeing that she doesn’t explain anything, he gives her his grandmother’s shawl. She is deeply moved. And suddenly, he associates her dressed like that with the painting in which he depicted her in that manner. His art dealer had given it to a young woman who understood it perfectly, a woman who couldn’t afford it and who was in a wheelchair. When she sees the painting on the wall of the other room, she imagines what had happened to Terry. Nickie wonders, quite frankly, why it happened to her and not to him. She makes a toast of hope. If he was able to work, she will walk again. Miguel Marías continues to explain brilliantly.

McCarey seems to think that simply being able to have a good time together isn’t enough to create a lasting bond. He knows that’s within anyone’s reach. Even missing each other during separation and mutual absence, whether brief or prolonged, isn’t sufficient. He undoubtedly believes that the words of marriage are very solemn, and that they not for nothing cover all possibilities, and also, very deliberately, the bad ones: for riches and for poor, for health and for sickness. And that six months is far too short a time to dare, with such scant foundation, to aspire to that portion of eternity within our grasp, to the limited “forever” that means promising each other respect and mutual support “until death do us part”… Isn’t the moving and melancholic “happy ending” of  An Affair to Remember  , in essence, more believable than the one Terry would have had if he had arrived punctually for their rendezvous, or with a venial and banal delay? Haven’t the characters matured during that time? ^[4]

Satisfaction in individual love cannot be achieved without the capacity to love one’s neighbor, without humility, courage, faith, and discipline.

Can bioethics, knowing nothing about love, still propose something that truly defends human dignity? Once again, cinema and philosophy join forces to invite us to learn what true love means. A year before the release of  An Affair to Remember , the philosopher Erich Fromm wrote  The Art of Loving.

Reading this book will disappoint anyone expecting easy lessons in the art of loving. On the contrary, the book’s purpose is to demonstrate that love is not an easy feeling for anyone, regardless of their level of maturity. Its aim is to convince the reader that all their attempts to love are doomed to failure unless they actively strive to develop their whole personality in order to achieve a productive orientation; and that satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one’s neighbor, without humility, courage, faith, and discipline. In a culture where these qualities are rare, the capacity to love must also be rare. Anyone who doubts this should ask themselves how many people truly capable of loving they have met. ^[5]

Conclusion

Classic films of personalist cinema are classics because they continue to inspire filmmaking today. In 2021, Juan Manuel Cotelo directed ”  Let’s Have a Peaceful Celebration,” starring Carlos Aguillo.  It’s a story where Christmas and family come together to overcome the tribulations of living together today. With a clear message: faced with the threats of a market-driven logic incapable of understanding forgiveness, it invites us to experience the power of a merciful love that lies at the origin of life. Another essential truth for a personalist bioethics.

Don’t miss it. Merry Christmas.

Technical specifications:

Original title:  « It’s a Wonderful Life»   («How ​​wonderful it is to live!»); «An Affair to Remember» («You and I»); «Let’s keep the peace»

Years:  1946; 1957; 2021 (respectively)

Duration:   2 h. 10 m; 1 h. 55 m.; 1 h. 43 m., respectively

Country:  United States (the first two); Spain (the third)

Directed by:  Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, Juan Manuel Cotelo.

Gracia Prats-Arolas  . Professor and researcher in Philosophy and Film. Catholic University of Valencia

Jose Alfredo Peris-Cancio  . Professor and researcher in Philosophy and Film. Member of the Bioethics Observatory. Catholic University of Valencia

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[1]  Marías, J., & Alonso, F. (1994).  The cinema of Julián Marías. Volume I. Writings on cinema (1960-1965).  Barcelona: Royal Brooks, pp. 126-127.

[2]  Minguet, C. (2025), “The eternity of the diminutive”,  https://www.elconfidencialdigital.com/religion/opinion/carola-minguet-civera/eternidad-diminuto/20251209061305054602.html  A proposition that shows with complete coherence the barbarity accepted through parenthood by means of sperm banks, as Dr. Minguet points out in another masterful Tribune, “Donor 7069” in which she highlights “It was not scandalous that a single man had fathered two hundred offspring, but that some of them could suffer from cancer”, LAS PROVINCIAS, Wednesday 12/17/25, p. 31.

[3]  Marías, M. (2012).  You and I.  Madrid: Notorious Ediciones, p. 20.

[4]  Ibidem, pp. 20-24.

[5]  Fromm, E. (2007).  The Art of Loving: An Inquiry into the Nature of Love.  Barcelona: Paidós, p. 7