Some people think of Switzerland as heaven on earth, but what do the Swiss themselves imagine life after death will be like? To answer this question, documentary filmmaker Stéphane Goël spoke with a large numbers of his compatriots – all of them in the twilight of their life – about how they picture the hereafter.

The result is a series of remarkable, poignant and funny conversations in which the interviewees open up about their dreams, passions and fears. One of them doesn’t believe there’s anything at all – and anyway, such a serene existence with no problems would be terribly dull.

And what if you got to heaven and you had to meet all those people you loathed on earth? Others expect everything to be better after they die, imagining the next world to be a vast garden full of flowers and plants, or a lush landscape where people and animals live in harmony – and don’t need to eat one another.

One woman is particularly looking forward to the pleasurable feeling she hopes awaits her. “It’ll be something like an orgasm,” she says. “Not all the time, but in waves.”

A documentary film by Stéphane Goël