Goodbye Lenin !!!!!!

Good Bye Lenin! (2003)

Directed by
Wolfgang Becker

Writing credits
Wolfgang Becker (co-author) and
Bernd Lichtenberg

Genre: Comedy / Drama

Synopsis: In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma; a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Brühl .... Alex
Katrin Saß .... Mutter (Christiane Kerner) (as Kathrin Sass)
Chulpan Khamatova .... Lara
Maria Simon .... Ariane Kerner
Florian Lukas .... Denis
Alexander Beyer .... Rainer
Burghart Klaußner .... Alex' Vater

Good Bye, Lenin! is a generally sweet nostalgia piece set in the years before and right after the fall of the Berlin wall. Daniel Brühl plays Alex, an East German teen, who grew up rooting for his country’s one cosmonaut and under the rule of only one parent, his father having fled to the other side when the opportunity presented itself. Meanwhile, Alex’s mother Christiane (the lovely Katrin Sass), after mourning the loss of her expatriate husband, “remarries” the state of East Germany itself, burying the pain of geographical bereavement to become a model socialist citizen and champion of the working man.

With life back on track, then, for Alex and his family, which includes dear sister Lara (Maria Simon), there’s no way to go but downhill, and here, that reality manifests itself when Christiane suffers a freak heart attack and winds up in a coma, which lasts just long enough for the wall to come down and the scourge of capitalism from the West to enter into the former economically-restricted state in leaps and bounds. Trouble is, after Alex’s mom returns from her dream state, the doctor explicitly warns Alex that any shock would likely serve to kill her. So, the teen decides to do what any loving, industrious son would do in the situation – he hatches a plan to turn back the clock on capitalism. Alex, with the help of his sister—who has, since mom went under, quit college, got shacked up with a “Wessie” and starting working at Burger King—transforms the old family apartment into the old family apartment, throwing away all the vestiges of a post-broken-wall world and replacing them with all the furnishings mom was accustomed to. To top it off, Alex subsequently has to jump through a seemingly endless series of hoops of lies and trickery to keep mom believing that East Germany is still getting its orders from the Kremlin. To further the plot, Alex enlists his new, Russian girlfriend, Lara (Chulpan Khamatova), as well as his work comrade Denis (Florian Lukas), a budding director. This pal provides the most useful services for Alex as he creates various fake news films on video to trick mom into believing that the old ways still exist.

Co-writer (along with Bernd Lichtenberg) and director Wolfgang Becker does a lovely job of telling what ends up feeling—with the help of maybe a tad too much narration care of Brühl’s Alex—like a very personal story. While the concept here sometimes feels a little too convenient (Alex, just so happening to be friends with a would-be director is a real coincidence) for its delicate tale about the passage of time and the change that comes with it, overall this is a hopeful picture that, if it’s sometimes long on cuteness, it’s never far away from having a big heart. (Sony Pictures Classics, R)

Also Known As:
79 qm DDR (Germany) (working title)
Goodbye Lenin! (International: English title)
MPAA: Rated R for brief language and sexuality.
Runtime: 121 min / Argentina:112 min
Country: Germany
Language: German
Color: Black and White (archive footage) / Color
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital