AllMovie

A handful of people are forced to come to terms with their lives and their actions in this drama from German filmmaker Ulrike Grote. Sophie Hellwig (Naomi Krauyss) is married to Joachim (Ulrich Noethen), a journalist. Joachim's work often takes him away from home, and while he's away Sophie has become involved with Paul Wolff (Eckhard Preuss), a respected physician. Paul, meanwhile, is married to Nele (Jana Striebeck), a fellow doctor who has fallen into a deep well of depression and guilt since the death of their child. Shortly before Joachim arrives home, Sophie learns she's been diagnosed with cancer and has only a short time to live. Sophie checks into a hospital on Paul's advice, where male nurse Hanns (Peter Jordan) helps look after intensive care patients. Hanns is also caring for his elderly mother Marie (Monica Bleibtrue), who is suffering from the early stages of senile dementia; the strain is becoming too much for him, and Hanns is considering putting Marie in a nursing home. However, when Marie finds a brochure for one of the facilities Hanns is investigating, she flies into a rage and runs away, ending up in a graveyard. There she meets Fritz (Willem Menne), a funeral director who has become disenchanted with his life and is pondering suicide. Was Wenn Der Tod Uns Scheidet? (aka What If Death Do Us Part?) received its North American premiere at the 2008 Montreal World Film Festival.