Alle Jahre wieder (1967)

Hannes Lücke works as an advertising copywriter in Frankfurt am Main. Every Christmas, as he does each year, he visits his family in Münster, Westphalia. His acquaintances, relatives and friends live in his hometown, in comfortable, respectable middle-class circumstances. This time, too, he has brought along a new girlfriend, Inge, from Frankfurt. He sings Christmas carols with his wife, Lore, and the children, pretending that all is well even though the marriage has long been over; Inge waits impatiently for him at the hotel. She now wants him to make a decision and presses him to talk to his wife. His wife, meanwhile, wants him back, if only for the children’s sake. Hannes, however, cannot make up his mind; he gives both women hope that he ultimately cannot fulfill. He tries to play the lover, the husband and the concerned father, but he convinces in none of these roles, and whenever things get difficult, he runs away. With his group of friends, he can only reminisce about the past, and he drowns Christmas in alcohol. In a drunken stupor, one of them recites a poem that can be understood as a lament for the postwar generation: “We only made it to forty; our only medals were given to us by some carnival sweetheart. You’re right if you think the rest of our dreams adorn the Christmas trees …” Afterwards, they all drive to the old flak position where, as members of the Hitler Youth, they had been assigned to air defense. Münster is now nothing but Hannes’s past, which he visits in order to forget it. The next morning, Hannes and Inge leave Münster again without any decision having been made. On the drive to Frankfurt, he tells Inge the same lies he told his wife 13 years earlier. It becomes clear that this Christmas was no exception, but something that happens year after year. To provide local color, the music teacher Dr. Bierbaum is recalled, making the following statements in just three scenes: “Either it’s raining here, or the bells are ringing, or another pub is opening.” (about Münster) “Gentlemen, may I leave you with this: the main reason for divorce is marriage.” (about divorce) “Gentlemen, this is simply a fact: Germans sing most when Christmas is coming, or when they’re going off to war.” (about singing) The story takes place in or around notable buildings in Münster. Locations shown include Café Schucan, the Stuhlmacher pub, the Old Gasthaus Leve, the Promenade, Überwasser Church, the Historic Town Hall, St. Lamberti and the LWL Museum of Art and Culture.