Film
FRIDAY FILMS: 24 Weeks

Director: Anne Zohra Berrached, color, 103 min., 2015/16

Fri, 02/16/2018
6:00 PM Goethe-Institut San Francisco, Auditorium

Are you interested in Germany and German culture? Are you looking for an opportunity to improve your German language skills? Do you enjoy German films? Then this is your event!

Every third Friday of the month, the Goethe-Institut San Francisco will present recent German films ranging from small, independent productions to box office hits. All screenings are in German with English subtitles. Admission is free!

PLOT:
Astrid and Markus lead a happy life. They’re also expecting their second child. During the sixth month of pregnancy, a routine examination reveals to the couple that their expected child will be born with Down’s syndrome and a serious heart defect. From one day to the next, the young family’s routine is turned upside down. Certainty and optimism alternate on a daily basis with depression, panic and helplessness. Despite all the uncertainty and doubt, Astrid and Markus decide to have the baby. The nearer the due date gets, however, the greater Astrid’s worries and misgivings. After countless discussions and disputes inside and outside the family circle, she is forced to make a decision that is as inevitable as it is permanently irreversible.

Anne Zohra Berrached’s impressive and stirring film tells of an expectant couple’s trauma. It illustrates, with coherent dialogue and intricately developed scenes, how the difficult decision process that they must both endure cannot be broken down into right and wrong or black and white.