Sterne unter der Stadt (2023)

The young Alexander grows up with his grandmother after his mother dies a few days after his birth. On his tenth birthday, he promises her never to fall in love, so that he will be spared his father’s fate. His father lives in a network of tunnels beneath Vienna because he promised Alexander’s mother on her deathbed that he would not leave her alone underground. As a young man, Alexander starts worrying about his father and decides to stay close to him. He takes an escalator down to his new workplace, a lost-property office run by Wiener Linien in Vienna’s subway network. There, Alexander meets Caro for the first time; she works in a hat shop. After the two grow closer, Alexander has to promise Caro that he will never fall in love with her. Some time later, he admits to her that he has broken his promise. She then shows him her bald head, which she hides beneath a wig. Although Caro initially resists her feelings, the two begin a relationship. Her doctor also enrolls her in a five-month medical study, and Caro moves in with Alexander. For Caro, he transforms his garden into a winter landscape with white tarpaulins and artificial snow, because she is gradually losing faith that she will make it through the treatment. Alexander hopes this will make time pass more quickly for Caro. In the end, Caro succumbs to her illness.