A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) review

The marriage between randy schoolteacher Bri (Alan Bates) and his wife Sheila (Janet Suzman) is made more difficult by the fact that they have to care for their daughter Jo (Elizabeth Robillard) who was born with cerebral palsy (and is non-verbal), so the two of them "discuss" whether they should place her in a residential hospital ... and Bri makes "jokes" about smothering her with a pillow.  Playwright Peter Nichols adapted his successful play to the screen (and based it on his own experiences with a sickly child) and it's an important - but understandably little discussed - subject: although it gets slightly bogged down in "philosophical debate" regarding mercy killing (and some of Bates' 'antics' are spastic and unwelcome), the last act is (literally) chilling: Bri sneaks out with Jo in the cold Christmastime weather to try to make her sick while Sheila and their friends chase after them.  Despite the relentlessly bleak tone the concluding message is a call for patience: we all have burdens to bear, and time itself decides what changes will happen.