Just a handful of lives

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Movie
Original title Just a handful of lives
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2016
length 93 minutes
Rod
Director Franziska Meletzky
script Henriette Piper
production Michael Souvignier ,
Heike Vossler
music Eike Hosenfeld
camera Bella halves
cut Jürgen Winkelblech
occupation

Just a handful of lives is a German TV film by director Francis Meletzky (as Franziska Meletzky) from 2016.

action

Anette Winterhoff is 22 weeks pregnant when she learns in a further investigation that something is wrong with the baby. The head is too small and the PAPP-A value is too low. The suspicion falls on trisomy 18 and is confirmed by an amniotic fluid test , which Annette is reluctant to allow.

The pubescent daughter Julia from Annette's first marriage would like to live with her father, who, however, wants to move in with his girlfriend and wants to send her to boarding school based on her further testimony. When she finds the ultrasound image, she lights it. But when she learns that the baby has trisomy, she feels guilty. Together with their younger sister Eva, they bury the can with the picture in the forest.

Thomas is in favor of an abortion, which for legal reasons has to take place before the 24th week of pregnancy, Annette, however, cannot come to terms with it. Eventually, however, she goes to the clinic with a forged signature of her husband to have the child aborted. But when she hears the heartbeat of the unborn child with a stethoscope , she makes a different decision and leaves the clinic. Annette and Thomas discuss with the doctors how to proceed. Since the baby u. a. has severe heart defects, if it survives birth, it will only live a few days.

Labor begins on Eva's birthday. Annette and Julia leave the birthday party. Julia stays with her mother in the clinic until her father arrives and takes over from Julia. He helps Annette give birth and she gives birth to the girl alive. Eva had discussed with Thomas that the baby should be baptized. So it is baptized in the name of Claire . Only a few days later, Claire died, her parents hold her in their arms.

background

The film was commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln as a production by Zeitsprung Pictures in Cologne . It was shot in May / June 2015 in Cologne and the surrounding area. The premiere took place on March 23, 2016 in the first, the show achieved a market share of 9.7 percent.

reception

The film received mostly good and very good reviews. Among other things, the actor ensemble was praised, in particular the leading actress Annette Frier , who previously played mainly comedic roles. Tilmann P. Gangloff calls her game “excellent”, Spiegel critic Anne Haeming describes it as a “gift”, as Frier shows “all the conflict, the defiance, the flashing happiness of her Annette in her face, her gestures, her voice”. The performance of the crew is also mentioned positively. Ulrich Feld wrote in the Frankfurter Neue Presse that camerawoman Bella Halben had “delivered a real masterpiece”. According to Gangloff, screenwriter Henriette Piper and director Franziska Meletzky “ manage the feat of still gaining beautiful sides from this infinitely sad story”. The Christian media magazine Pro praises the decision of ARD to broadcast the difficult material in prime time and draws the conclusion: “Without condemning one or the other way of thinking, the film skilfully takes up a sensitive and very emotional topic and shows how existential the conflict represented Can change and touch people. ”The plot line in which Annette's daughter Julia believes that she has bewitched the baby by burning the ultrasound image is viewed critically. This narrative thread "annoys" critic Haeming, it seems implausible. The otherwise positive TV feature film review also criticized the fact that the drama was “somewhat predictable” and in the end it seemed more conciliatory “than it often is in real life”.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Start of shooting for the WDR / ARD family drama “A Handful of Life” presse.wdr.de. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  2. ↑ Primetime check: Wednesday, March 23, 2016. quotenmeter.de. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  3. ^ Anne Haeming: Trisomy drama on ARD: Going pregnant with death. spiegel.de. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Feld: "Only a handful of lives": Definitely worthy of a prize. fnp.de. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  5. ↑ TV film “Just a handful of life” tittelbach.tv. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ Gripping film: "Just a handful of lives". pro-medienmagazin.de. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  7. ↑ Just a handful of lives. tvspielfilm.de. Retrieved March 29, 2016.