Henry – det mandlige kælenavn for sygeplejersken Henriette,
er i 30erne og ugift. Som mange moderne kvinder vil hun ha uafhængigheden til
at bestemme over sig selv, så hun tør ikke vise sin sårbarhed, tør ikke
indrømme at hun drømmer om at slå sig ned med den ”ene helt specielle” og få
børn. Andre folks problemer kan hun ordne, men når det kommer til hende selv,
går tingene straks tungere.
Filmen portrætterer en periode i Henriettes, ellers ret
monotome liv, hvor alt synes at ske samtidig. I denne periode får syv forskelle
mænd betydning for hendes personlige udvikling. Finn, hendes ex-kæreste, som en
dag gik efter cigaretter og aldrig kom tilbage, og som hun nu møder igen ved et
tilfælde. Henrik Løwe, en ambitiøs og selvhøjtidelig læge som hun pludselig tror
er manden i hendes liv. Woodroff, en engelsk professor, som synes at hun er
meget sjovere end Dr. Løwe som har inviteret ham hjem til middag. Hendes lejer
Bent, lige så ensom som hun selv på sin måde. Hendes bror Ole, en
ikke-succesfuld maler. Bøgh, hendes kæreste, mere ud af nødvendighed end noget
andet, og som hun har svært ved at få sagt fra til, og endelig den døende
patient Holm, som gir Henriette modet til at indse sin svaghed.
Henriette, et menneske fanget i storby-vanviddet, blir
tvunget til at tage hånd om sit eget liv.
Henriette, a human being, caught in the big city madness, is
forced to take her own life in hand. Henry – the male nick name of the nurse
Henriette, is in her 30’s and unmarried. Like so many modern women she wants
the independence to “decide for herself”. So she doesn’t dare to show her
vulnerability, doesn’t dare to admit that she would like to just settle down
with that one ”special someone” and have children. Other people’s problems she
can handle in the wink-of-an-eye, but then it comes to her own affairs, things
just don’t go that easy.
The film portrays a period in Henry’s usually rather
monotonous life, where everything seems to happen at once. In this period seven different men become
important for her personal development. Finn, her ex-lover, who one day went
for cigarettes and never came back, and whom she suddenly meets again. Henrik
Løwe, an ambitious and self-important doctor, whom she suddenly thinks is the
man in her life. Woodroff, a British professor, who find her much more funny
that he finds Dr. Løwe, who has invited him home for dinner. Her lodger, Bent,
as lonely in his way as she is in hers. Her brother, Ole, who is an unsuccessful
painter. Bøgh, her boyfriend, more out of necessity that anything else and whom
she can’t seem to get rid of, and finally the dying patient, Holm, who gives
Henriette the courage to acknowledge her own weakness.