So wie du bist (2012)

Judge Helene Offer retires and is given a formal farewell by her colleagues. At the celebration, she drinks too much sparkling wine, and while driving home she crashes into the car in front of her. The driver is injured, but his daughter Michelina—a girl with Down syndrome—is unharmed. Her father is taken to the hospital and lies in a coma. Mrs. Offer’s blood alcohol test shows 0.9 per mille. She is good friends with her lawyer, who explains how serious the situation is, especially since the incident has appeared in the newspaper. The lawyer advises her to look after Lina, which she initially refuses to do. Mrs. Offer visits Sonnendorf, the facility where Lina lives and works, accompanied by the press. She watches a dance rehearsal and takes care of some formalities. The director of Sonnendorf entrusts Lina to Mrs. Offer’s care. Lina immediately becomes friends with her. When Lina wants to go to a pizzeria with her, Mrs. Offer refuses to go out. Only when Lina lets out a scream does she agree. Mrs. Offer is surprised that Lina takes the subway. Mrs. Offer is clumsy when buying a ticket, but Lina knows what she is doing. On the subway, Lina cheers up another child, and over pizza she asks questions about Down syndrome. After the meal, Lina wants to go to the movies, which Mrs. Offer refuses; Lina screams again until Mrs. Offer agrees. There, Lina meets her boyfriend Sebastian. After the movie, Mrs. Offer forbids Lina from bringing Sebastian home with her. Lina and Sebastian have long planned to get married, but the law does not allow it. Lina acts like a housewife at Mrs. Offer’s, and while preparing breakfast she accidentally destroys a valuable sculpture, leaving Mrs. Offer beside herself with anger. Lina painstakingly puts the figure back together and decorates it in her own modern style. Lina sleeps in Mrs. Offer’s son’s room and assumes that the boy is dead. At Sonnendorf, the residents pool their small change and valuables to buy a hamster together for Mrs. Offer. Sebastian calls this a “trade union.” The hamster is given to Mrs. Offer, and Lina names him “George Clooney.” Mrs. Offer does not like him, but takes him anyway. Later, Charly, the director of Sonnendorf, and Lina visit Lina’s father, who has woken from his coma. Lina thinks he has heard her alarm clock. Mrs. Offer reveals that she was the one who caused the accident. During a dance rehearsal at Sonnendorf, Lina and Sebastian are caught making love. Sebastian’s mother is informed and opposes their relationship. She cancels Sebastian’s place at Sonnendorf and keeps him away from Lina. When Lina comes to Mrs. Offer’s in the rain, she asks what the hamster should be called. Lina also announces that she wants to marry Sebastian. Mrs. Offer firmly replies that this is impossible because of their disability, but Lina insists. Sebastian’s parents talk about their son’s love for Lina. His mother fears that Lina will become pregnant, but his father does not think so. Sebastian overhears the conversation. On a day off for Lina, Mrs. Offer is due to receive a silver medal of honor for her fight against injustice. She takes Lina along against Lina’s wishes. Lina, however, brings the hamster in her bag and feeds him. During Mrs. Offer’s speech, Lina lets the hamster loose at the feet of the audience, causing panic. Mrs. Offer abandons her speech and eventually gives the medal of honor to Lina because she saved the hamster. Mrs. Offer disapproves of her son being a hospital clown. He once fell out with his mother because he did not want a career in law. Her conversations with her son are not going well. Sebastian, whom his parents call “Wutzel,” writes to tell them that he is leaving home and wants to marry Lina. He really does run away and meets Lina. This causes a great deal of alarm and concern, and the two are searched for everywhere. They go to the movies first, then someone speaks vulgarly to them in Resselpark, so they flee to Mrs. Offer. She takes them in and reprimands them for running away. Sebastian stubbornly refuses to go home and says he wants to marry Lina in a church. The two spend the night at Mrs. Offer’s. When Charly calls, Mrs. Offer denies that they are with her. The next day, she takes Sebastian home, and his parents are relieved. Sebastian’s mother refuses to let him take part in the dance performance being put on by the facility. At the other facility, Sebastian behaves disruptively, shouting and repeatedly throwing himself on the floor. His caregiver realizes that Sebastian wants to return to Sonnendorf, and his mother takes him out of the facility immediately. At the dance performance, the dance teacher takes Sebastian’s place in line beside Lina; but Sebastian arrives with his father after all, and his mother comes later. He then joins Lina on stage and dances with her without having rehearsed. When Mrs. Offer tries to talk with Sebastian’s mother about the couple’s love, Sebastian’s mother speaks out against their relationship and orders Mrs. Offer out of the house. Sebastian overhears this conversation too. Soon afterward, Mrs. Offer asks her ex-husband, who is a minister, to arrange an appointment with the bishop. At the audience, the bishop tells her that the marriage of people with disabilities is an exceptional case and that the same law applies in the Church. The bishop instructs the cathedral priest to assess whether the couple are capable of marrying. The priest visits the family and thus the couple, who both have Down syndrome. He gives them permission to marry. Sebastian and Lina get married in a church. Meanwhile, Mrs. Offer’s son and his girlfriend are also expecting a child.