Naming German comedies could easily be a substitute parlour game for naming famous Belgians in the rather snooty middle class homes of the British Isles. I confess my list would consist of Toni Erdmann and… Deutschland ’83 (well, it has funny bits, doesn’t it?)
And as you leave the film theatre 162 minutes after the opening of a spectacularly soundtrack-free Toni Erdmann you’re left reflecting on the fact that it was funny, and when I say funny I mean screaming out loud as part of a cacophonous melee of filmgoers, but was it REALLY a comedy?
You see, it’s also deeply moving and actually the underlying sadness of the whole thing, the painful loneliness of the two extraordinary leads (both of whom should be Oscar nominated), makes your unrestrained laughter feel like a betrayal of their fragile mental health.
Father and daughter, Winfreid (alias Toni Erdmann) and Ines, are a dysfunctional 69 year old and 40 something.
He’s a semi retired music teacher with a practical joker streak. She’s a hard as nails management consultant who’s idea of a good time is to take a client’s wife mall-shopping, anything to succeed in her high stress work environment where she’s willing to trample over people to the top.
She has eliminated emotion from her life and that’s hurting no-one more than her dad Winfred (Peter Simonischek).
On a flying trip home from her temporary workplace in Bucharest, Romania she stages fake phone calls so as to distance herself from her family and friends group who are hosting an early birthday party for her. Her father can’t bear it and so springs a surprise trip to Bucharest, only days later, to see if he can win back her stone cold affection.
Sandra Huller, who played Ines, is magnificent in her role. She engages in filthy hotel room sex with her underling but completely without love or desire. She attends conventions on weekends, she socialises with a girl group but it’s a veneer of enjoyment as she sips unenthusiastically from half full drinks glasses – letting drink overwhelm her would be a DISASTER -and she has seemingly lost the ability to even FAKE smile.
She is a world class cold fish.
Arriving in Bucharest, her dad tracks her down and starts following her having assumed a persona, Toni Erdmann, Life Coach, in a long brown wig and oversized false teeth and somehow inveigles his way into her work group. That’s where the humour really kicks in, as he pursues a series on ‘did he really do that’ set pieces that contain a variety of comedy tropes including mime, slapstick and pathos.
It’s devastatingly funny in places. Most notably when he attends Ines’ actual birthday party which has already assumed levels of absurdity never before seen on screen.
This is an absurdist comedy at the end of the day. In places completely surreal. That’s why it’s certainly not for everyone. The reviews on IMDB range from awestruck to awful so I hesitate to say you’ll love it, but me and my wife both did.
It’s glacially slow but stick with it.
It rewards patience and stamina, but is engrossing from first frame to last.
This truly is a comedy classic.
You may need hankies.
gibberish 
Great review thank you; I can see your really liked it as did I. This is one of the most original European comedies of the year; its a slow-burner, not much happens, but its wonderful to watch the subtle shifts in the father-daughter bond that is being portrayed. People seem to miss how redemptive and loving is the father’s antics and how it leads his daughter out of a sterile career and towards self-recognition. Quirkly, insightful, and charming are my three concluding adjectives.
LikeLike
Couldn’t agree more. It’s a lovely film at its core and you sum it up beautifully.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you kindly.
LikeLike