Above Us Only Sky

Martha Sabel teaches at a school while Paul Sabel studies medicine at the university. He has handed in his thesis to Professor Gellendorf and secured a job in Marseille. The couple seems content as they look ahead to Paul's move.

Paul travels ahead to begin their next chapter, while Martha prepares to join him later. They are excited but anxious about the separation and the new city.

Shortly after, the police inform Martha that Paul has been found dead in his car in Marseille, with a verdict of suicide. She struggles to accept the official explanation and clings to the few details she has. The sudden loss shatters the future they planned together.

Martha must organize the funeral for the repatriated body and mourn from afar. She is handed Paul's personal effects, minus his phone, which deepens the sense of detachment and mystery. The process underscores how little of Paul's life she truly knew.

She realizes she cannot reach Paul's family or friends because she never met his life outside their relationship. The only name she recognizes is Professor Gellendorf, who says he has not seen Paul for at least four years and has not seen any thesis. The lack of a network leaves her searching in the dark.

She begins searching for contemporaries who might remember Paul and approaches a history lecturer named Alexander Runge. The pursuit marks the start of a new, unsettling inquiry into his past. The professor’s memory may hold clues to the life Paul led before their marriage.

Runge physically resembles Paul in some ways, which draws Martha to him. After persuading him back to her flat, she invites him to join her in bed. He suggests another day might be better, and she agrees to dinner, where their relationship deepens into an affair.

Runge remains unaware of Martha's dead husband and the life she had with him. He has an affectionate girlfriend who is badly hurt by his involvement with Martha, adding tension to his double life. Martha does not ask about his life, and the emotional distance between them grows.

One day the phone rings and the name Paul appears on the screen. A Marseille contact says they have found his phone, and the message unsettles Martha. Realizing there is a deeper truth behind Paul's death, she confronts the fragility of her assumptions.

Understanding the reality, Runge leaves her, and Martha begins grieving for Paul and the life she imagined with him. The affair collapses as the emotional weight of truth sinks in. She is left to process the loss without the comfort of the person she thought she knew.

In a postscript, Martha and Runge have gotten together again and moved to Marseille, and Martha appears pregnant, suggesting a new future. The ending implies a reconciliation with life after loss, even as the past continues to haunt her. The story closes on a fragile, ambiguous note about love, memory, and resilience.