A GERMAN-LANGUAGE black comedy lasting more than two-and-a-half hours about an immature father and his super-serious businesswoman daughter might not seem that appealing. But Maren Ade’s epic odyssey of familial bonds and the awkwardness that often comes with it is one of the most unique and strangely touching films you’ll likely see all year.
Winfried (Peter Simonischek) is a lonely but outwardly jovial retiree who, not knowing what to do with himself in his old age, spends his time pulling silly practical jokes on anyone and everyone that catches his fancy.
One day he decides to pay a visit to his hard-working daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) – a consultant at a firm that deals with outsourcing and downsizing – whom he rarely sees anymore in an attempt to reconnect with her. But she doesn’t really have time for him.
So what to do? The logical step in his mind is to dress up in a black wig and comically large teeth to adopt the eponymous alter ego.
He muscles in on Ines’ world, describing himself as a life coach and even the German ambassador – a preposterous lending of an ill-placed but well-meaning helping hand. Ines is like us, aghast and horrified but also curious to see where he’ll go with this, how far he’ll take it as he tags along to fancy parties and client meetings.
Looking like a cross between an ageing rock star and an oafish Austin Powers, he gives his best shot at polite conversation in a world that’s alien to him as much as it’s his daughter’s everything.
From the off it’s an odd fish of a film that’s hard to pin down, juggling multiple tones and styles to compelling effect along its lengthy but deftly paced runtime.
Is it a straight-up farcical comedy, recalling Monty Python as it mounts one pristinely designed daft set-piece after another? Is it a low-key examination of the painfully estranged relationship between a chalk-and-cheese father and daughter? A scalpel-sharp dissection of how we’re supposed to act around people and how the impression we leave is not one easily undone?
Try all of the above and more. This fizzy, unique concoction of a film shows that it’s possible to be more than one thing at a time and be every bit as effective as aiming high with a singular frame of mind.
Ade’s film is insightful, melancholic, shamelessly cringe-worthy and very, very funny all at once.
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