The Family Jewels

Martin, about to start his doctorate, is diagnosed with testicular cancer. One testicle is removed, but the disease has already spread. His doctor proposes an operation that risks leaving him sterile; he refuses and chooses long, punishing chemotherapy instead. The film is not interested in the illness. It is interested in how those around him react: the father cannot discuss it, the friend jokes, the girlfriend does not know how to behave, and Martin has to manage each of them separately. It shows that being ill is also a piece of social labour. The form is dry and funny: the harder edge of German humour, hospital corridors, long silences and crude jokes going off in between. Robert Schwentke wrote and directed. The film is autobiographical; Schwentke himself survived testicular cancer. He would later move to Hollywood for films like Flightplan and RED, but this work comes from an entirely different place. Wotan Wilke Möhring, Alexander Beyer and Julia Hummer are in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like illness stories that refuse sentimental exploitation. Who it is not for: anyone with fresh personal experience of the subject. The treatment scenes are detailed and direct.