Ein großes Versprechen (2021)

Juditha has been married to Erik, a Swede, for a long time. They live happily in their house with a garden in Hamburg. Gardening and birdwatching are Juditha’s hobbies. Their grown-up daughter, Sarah, lives in Erik’s hometown of Malmö. Juditha is looking forward to Erik’s retirement from his job as a university professor. Then he could spend more time with her and they could do more things together. She needs that, too, because she has multiple sclerosis, though she tries to ignore it. But Erik has other plans. He even applies for a job in Malmö. When that doesn’t work out, he wants to start studying again. Juditha’s condition steadily worsens. Before long, she can move around the house only in a wheelchair. She refuses any medical intervention—it wouldn’t help anyway. She also rejects every accommodation Erik arranges for her (a better wheelchair, automated shelves, help around the house), even though she badly needs them. She refuses to acknowledge the reality of her condition. Erik is desperate. He is also struggling to maintain a life of his own outside the house. Lately, his heart has been troubling him (heart attacks, panic attacks). So he escapes to a hotel, even though his wife has now hired a housekeeper herself. Juditha looks for him upstairs and falls down the stairs. Erik finds his wife in the hospital. She now wants to separate. Erik flees to Malmö. He blames himself and admits his guilt to his daughter. Juditha learns to live in a care home, although she finds it very difficult to accept her physical limitations. But she fights back against them in physiotherapy (a self-help group). Erik sends her a letter with photos of emptiness. He writes that without Juditha he cannot find the ship from their shared past, because she is missing. Juditha smiles. In the final scene, she hurries in her wheelchair toward the elevator doors.