Under the Weeping Willow
On the stage and in the spotlight, Astrid lives and loves her job as a stand-up comedian, devoting herself completely to her work, while Markus, her husband and manager, calmly and ably supports her.…
Under the Weeping Willow
On the stage and in the spotlight, Astrid lives and loves her job as a stand-up comedian, devoting herself completely to her work, while Markus, her husband and manager, calmly and ably supports her. However, when the couple is expecting their second child, their otherwise so regular and well- ordered life is thrown off course after a routine exam reveals trisomy 21. At first neither of them knows how to cope, but they eventually decide together in favor of a life with Down's Syndrome. Drawing on the same strength that helped them take control of their daily life working with the public, the future parents start preparing for life with a disabled child. They are unfazed when their friends and relatives react with bewilderment and helplessness. Soon the diagnosis is no longer frightening, and they start looking forward again to the birth of their child. But when during the six month of pregnancy, another exam reveals the full extent of the disability, this news hits the parents much harder, and their courage and optimism comes very close to folding like a house of cards. Here again, Astrid and Markus want to take every decision together, and again they want to find a way to make things work. But the prognosis is now much more complicated. They suddenly find themselves faced with a moral conflict, having to decide between bringing a severely handicapped child into the world and ending the pregnancy in the sixth month. Racing from one diagnosis and one piece of advice to another, their opinions now diverge. Who can know whether the child is really going to suffer, and whether its life will be worth living? While they are searching for the right answer, everything is called into question - their relationship, their desire for a child, and a life according to plan. With medical professionals, statistics, and prognoses around her on every side, Astrid realizes that since she is bearing the child, she is ultimately the only one who can make the decision.
Under the Weeping Willow
Drama
Film Details
On the stage and in the spotlight, Astrid lives and loves her job as a stand-up comedian, devoting herself completely to her work, while Markus, her husband and manager, calmly and ably supports her. However, when the couple is expecting their second child, their otherwise so regular and well- ordered life is thrown off course after a routine exam reveals trisomy 21. At first neither of them knows how to cope, but they eventually decide together in favor of a life with Down's Syndrome.
Drawing on the same strength that helped them take control of their daily life working with the public, the future parents start preparing for life with a disabled child. They are unfazed when their friends and relatives react with bewilderment and helplessness. Soon the diagnosis is no longer frightening, and they start looking forward again to the birth of their child.
But when during the six month of pregnancy, another exam reveals the full extent of the disability, this news hits the parents much harder, and their courage and optimism comes very close to folding like a house of cards. Here again, Astrid and Markus want to take every decision together, and again they want to find a way to make things work. But the prognosis is now much more complicated.
They suddenly find themselves faced with a moral conflict, having to decide between bringing a severely handicapped child into the world and ending the pregnancy in the sixth month. Racing from one diagnosis and one piece of advice to another, their opinions now diverge. Who can know whether the child is really going to suffer, and whether its life will be worth living? While they are searching for the right answer, everything is called into question - their relationship, their desire for a child, and a life according to plan.
With medical professionals, statistics, and prognoses around her on every side, Astrid realizes that since she is bearing the child, she is ultimately the only one who can make the decision..