Ellas Baby (2017)

Sixteen-year-old Ella has been to France with a few of her girlfriends, partly because the girls wanted to finally have sex, which they did. But now Ella discovers that she is pregnant by a young man who did not even tell her his real name. At first, it seems obvious that she will have an abortion. But after talking with Matti, who is the same age and does not know his mother but is glad she gave birth to him, Ella decides to carry the baby to term and then give it up for adoption. Her father, Roman, cannot understand this, since Ella is a talented basketball player and this will ruin her career. At first, he and Ella have a strained relationship. They have recently moved in with Roman’s girlfriend, Ariane, who desperately wants a child of her own with Roman, but despite meticulous efforts, it is not happening. All Ella knows about her biological mother is that she went off to India to help children in need. Ella exchanges text messages with her and confides her thoughts to her. Once Roman realizes that Ella is serious about her decision to have the baby, he supports her. This makes things difficult for Ariane: first, she is jealous of Ella’s unwanted pregnancy, which she herself cannot achieve despite wanting it so badly; second, she feels slighted by Roman’s enthusiastic support for Ella and by the importance attached to Ella’s pregnancy. The long-unspoken idea that she might adopt Ella’s baby as her own feels like an imposition when it is finally brought up. During the argument that follows, Ariane leaves the family again, at least for a while. This in turn throws Roman into a crisis, because he genuinely loves and needs Ariane. Ella accidentally discovers that the text messages she sends to her mother are actually going to a second phone belonging to Roman. Although initially disappointed by this lie, she is also impressed by the thoughtful replies, which it turns out Roman, not her mother, has been writing; her trust in him deepens. She needs him very much, too, when his father Karl dies unexpectedly. Karl had been an important person in Ella’s life. For a long time, Ella refuses even to look at an ultrasound image of her baby, because she does not want to form a bond with it. Eventually, however, she realizes that she cannot suppress her emerging maternal feelings and begins to consider keeping the baby. One evening, Ella unexpectedly goes into labor. Roman, who has not yet passed his driving test, drives her to the hospital and lets Ariane know as well. Ariane overcomes her pride and arrives at the hospital by taxi. Ella asks her to come into the delivery room with her, thereby showing her that she belongs. In the end, the family of four is back together, and Ella is looking after her baby. Several humorous subplots lighten the serious subject matter: Roman, a bicycle mechanic, is determined to finally get his driver’s license, which he keeps secret from Ariane, but she hears about it from a friend. Distractions during his driving lessons lead to some bizarre accidents. The awkward-seeming Matti, who is in love with Ella, learns about her pregnancy by overhearing a conversation on the balcony and makes an ill-considered attempt to “confess” to being the father in order to get closer to her. Roman, who thinks little of him, shows him the door. Later, when Roman runs over Matti’s dog, Matti reacts so calmly that Roman is deeply impressed. They smoke hashish together, which in turn offends Ariane. Ariane’s comically elaborate conception planning also involves a smartphone app that loudly announces the optimal time for conception in a ridiculous way. Yet, paradoxically, she even refuses to have sex in order to improve sperm quality. It does not occur to her that this reduces Roman to a baby-making machine. Among other things, Roman reproaches his father Karl for neglecting his wife’s grave. Only after Karl’s death does Ella tell him that Karl’s wife is not buried in a cemetery at all, but in their own garden. At Karl’s funeral, the urn is also switched without anyone noticing.