24 Weeks

Astrid is a well-known German comedian who makes her living getting on stage and making people laugh. Her husband Markus is also her manager. They have a nine-year-old daughter and are expecting a second child. Astrid does not hide the pregnancy and works it into her act. Then a scan shows that the child has Down syndrome. The two of them believe they can take that on. Then comes a second diagnosis: the baby also has a severe heart condition and will need one operation after another after birth. The pregnancy is at twenty-four weeks. In Germany, ending it at this stage is possible only on grounds of the mother's health, and only she can make the decision. The film follows the process in its medical and legal detail, almost as a documentary would. Anne Zohra Berrached directs, with Julia Jentsch as Astrid. A hundred and three minutes. It competed at Berlin in 2016.