600 PS für zwei (2015)

Hartmut Sprenger once had a well-paid marketing job at a large company. He was laid off five years ago and now sells sausages at Alexanderplatz in Berlin to make ends meet. He still pretends to his ex-wife, Katrin, and his 16-year-old daughter, Olivia, that he is a successful businessman. He had promised Olivia he would go on vacation with her, but once again gets out of it by claiming he has important meetings. When Olivia threatens to run away if he does not pick her up from boarding school the next day, he has a problem. Lorenz Hoffmann is a successful head of human resources at the company where Hartmut used to work. Lorenz was responsible for Hartmut’s dismissal back then. He has been married twice and is currently in a relationship with a younger colleague. He has to travel to Munich for an important business meeting, but air traffic controllers are on strike. Since his back pain also prevents him from taking the train, it suits him very well that his company needs to deliver a luxury sports car (a Maserati GranTurismo) to Tegernsee. The car is a gift for an important advertising representative, the footballer Jesus. On the way, Lorenz reluctantly picks up Hartmut, who is hitchhiking and doing everything he can to get to Olivia on time after all. When Lorenz loses his license for speeding, Hartmut has to take over the driving. In return, he wants Lorenz to help him keep up the appearance of being a successful businessman in front of Olivia. They swap clothes, and Lorenz is demoted to an unemployed hitchhiker. When Lorenz realizes who Hartmut is, he introduces himself as Lothar Merseburger to avoid having to face responsibility for Hartmut’s dismissal. They pick up Olivia and drive out to the country to Hartmut’s ex-wife Katrin, who also runs a physiotherapy practice from her home. They spend a pleasant day there, grilling sausages, talking, and chopping wood. A certain attraction develops between Lorenz and Katrin when her treatment eases his back pain. Lorenz gradually realizes how much he enjoys this life, far from his hectic job in the city, and the company of these people. He now tries to convince Hartmut to tell his ex-wife and their daughter the whole truth about his life and stop pretending. Hartmut cannot bring himself to do it, however, so the next day he and Lorenz are back in the sports car with Olivia, supposedly to make good on Hartmut’s promise to finally take his daughter on vacation. On the way, they explain, they still have to drive the “unemployed Lothar” to a job interview in Munich. The car is towed because of a parking violation, and Olivia learns from a policewoman that her father is unemployed. When Olivia answers a call in the car that is meant for Mr. Hoffmann, the true identity of “Lothar Merseburger” is exposed: Hartmut now knows who he is dealing with. Since the two men continue to keep up the pretense with her, Olivia takes the wheel at the next opportunity and drives off. The two search for Olivia and find her after she has crashed the car into a tree. Fortunately, she has only a broken arm and a cut on her head. Lorenz accompanies Hartmut and Olivia to the hospital. During a phone call there, it becomes clear that Lorenz will get into a lot of trouble over the damaged car and being unreachable. Both men drive back to Katrin’s with Olivia, where they tell her they probably have quite a bit to explain.