3 Zimmer/Küche/Bad (2012)

The film is divided into five parts (Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Then) and tells the confusing story of eight friends who help one another move. As some of them fall in love with each other, others end their relationships—and vice versa. The film begins with Dina and Wiebke moving into the Berlin flatshare they have just set up. Michael meets the group when he takes Maria from the wrong move to the right one. When Wiebke wants to get rid of her old washing machine, Michael expresses interest in it and begins a brief relationship with her. It quickly ends, however, because when the two are supposed to meet at a lake, Michael invites his three male friends along instead of devoting himself solely to Wiebke. Philipp’s girlfriend Maria intends to move into the room that has become available in his flatshare. But shortly afterward, Thomas and Jessica’s offer of a place to live falls through, so the two of them remain in the flatshare for the time being. It gets crowded. Nevertheless, Maria wants to move from Freiburg to Berlin. On the way there, she confronts Philipp about his old affair with Dina. He does not deny his feelings for Dina, and Maria then leaves him at a motorway rest stop. Maria drives on alone and, for the first few days in Berlin, has no choice but to live in the cargo area of the van she used for the move. On Christmas Eve, Philipp, Wiebke, and Swantje’s parents announce that they separated twenty years ago and have only pretended to be a happy family for the children’s sake. The father has had a new lover for a long time. Swantje loses it and feels cheated out of her childhood. After the divorce, the mother begins to suffer from hallucinations and can no longer be left alone. Meanwhile, Michael begins a relationship with Dina, causing conflict with Wiebke. Dina wants to use natural birth control, and Michael cannot accept that, so he begins an affair with Jessica, whom Thomas later leaves. Dina is already pregnant by Michael when she discovers his affair with Jessica. The two break up, but later reunite, both remorseful. After Jessica and Thomas split up, Swantje’s phone contact with Thomas grows more frequent. But since Thomas shows no interest in her, Swantje takes the initiative herself, impulsively hitchhikes from Stuttgart to Berlin, and ambushes Thomas with a provocative kiss. Jessica and Michael search for their biological fathers and are surprised to discover that they are the same Munich doctor—“an asshole”—who has lived in seclusion for years in a remote mountain hut and wants nothing more to do with his former life or his children. In the closing credits, all eight friends are seen at an art exhibition. Together, they look at a huge mural. In pairs, they gradually leave the museum. Only then does the camera pan to the painting: a colorful portrait of the group.