Directed by:
Hans-Christian SchmidScreenplay:
Bernd LangeComposer:
The NotwistCast:
Lars Eidinger, Egon Merten, Corinna Harfouch, Sebastian Zimmler, Ernst Stötzner, Birge Schade, Picco von Groote, Eva Meckbach, Jörg Malchow, Angelika RichterPlots(1)
Marko is in his mid-thirties, has just published his first book, and has been living in Berlin since his university days – far enough away from his parents Gitte and Günter with their bourgeois lifestyle that he could never quite get used to. He visits them once or twice a year, mainly to give them a chance to spend a few days with their grandson.
His hopes of spending a quiet weekend with his family fall short when Gitte, who has been mentally unstable since Marko was a child, after a homeopathic treatment feels so healthy for the first time in a long time that she stops taking her medication. She asks to be treated from now on as a full member of this family and, now that her husband Günther is finally selling his publishing company, is looking forward to their retirement days together.
Gitte's announcement triggers reserved reactions. Fearing for his mother's health, Marko's younger brother Jakob insists she continue her medication treatment, whilst Gitte's unexpected recovery evidently seems to be foiling Günther's retirement plans. Marko is the only one who stands behind Gitte's decision, seeing in it a chance for her and the family. When Jakob can no longer hide his financial troubles due to setting up his doctor's practice and building a house, Marko is the only one who respects his mother's wishes and doesn't hide this bitter failure away from her and, in so doing, tips his family's seemingly well-established structure out of balance.
(Berlinale)
Cast
Lars Eidinger
West Germany
Best movies:
Dying (2024)
Never Look Away (2018)
Sense8 (2015) (series)
Egon Merten
Best movies:
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Corinna Harfouch
East Germany
Best movies:
Dying (2024)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997)
Downfall (2004)
Sebastian Zimmler
Best movies:
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Ernst Stötzner
West Germany
Best movies:
Underground (1995)
Frantz (2016)
Victoria (2015)
Birge Schade
West Germany
Best movies:
Beyond Silence (1996)
Stations of the Cross (2014)
Schlafes Bruder (1995)
Picco von Groote
West Germany
Best movies:
Duell der Brüder - Die Geschichte von Adidas und Puma (2016) (TV movie)
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Starfighter - Sie wollten den Himmel erobern (2015) (TV movie)
Eva Meckbach
Germany
Best movies:
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Ein starkes Team (1994) (series)
Jörg Malchow
East Germany
Best movies:
54 Hours (2018) (series)
Bungalow (2002)
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Angelika Richter
East Germany
Best movies:
Stromberg - Der Film (2014)
Home for the Weekend (2012)
Tatort (1970) (series)