Haven’t gotten enough Til Schweiger posts yet? Good, because here’s another. And this one also features his daughter, Emma, and son Valentin (credited here as Florian) plays a bit part as well. In fact, Til Schweiger co-wrote and co-directed this film.
We see as an elderly man begins suffering from Alzheimer’s and how the family realises and deals with this new situation.
Dieter Hallervorden plays the grandfather. This is an important role to get right, and he does it very well. He still keeps a full schedule. His next expected film is Benjamin Blümchen! Although uncredited, his first role was in Fritz Lang’s Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse.
Jeanette Hain plays the daughter-in-law. She is a busy actress who we may recognise from Winterkartoffelknödel, Der Vampir auf der Couch, The Countess, The Reader, TKKG und die rätselhafte Mind-Machine, and Bibi Blocksberg.
Katharina Thalbach plays the daughter-in-law’s mother. For more about Thalbach, visit the post on Friedrich, ein deutscher König. Even Udo Lindenberg has a small cameo!
On an interesting note, the doctor the grandfather eventually goes to is played by Mehmet Kurtulus, a German of Turkish descent. As many German films as I have seen, it is incredibly rare to see Turkish Germans in the roles of highly educated professionals. Kurtulus crosses over into Turkish and American movie markets as well. He’s been in such films as Big Game, Lautlos, Gegen die Wand, Der Tunnel, and Im Juli.
Related, we see Dar Salim, born in Iraq, as a waiter, who helps the grandfather adjust in a restaurant setting and sticks up for him in the face of a typical societal response, lacking understanding and patience for such a situation. Most famously, Salim can be found in the Game of Thrones, as Qotho.
This film deals with real life issues that are not only relatable, but also potential AP Theme connections. Health and wellbeing, generational issues, and family structure all have important roles here.
There are a couple points of German swear words being used, including one case about an hour in where body language is used in describing desired sexuality, which may be inappropriate for some classes, but would be easy to skip. There is also a point where we see a naked rear end in a non-sexual scene, about 75 minutes in, which could also be skipped, shortly followed by a scene of sexual misunderstanding and confusion due to Alzheimer’s. Nearly two hours in, there are sounds of sex heard in the hotel, which the grandfather believes is the birds in distress.