Anderst schön (2015)

Roger works as a not particularly talented caretaker in a prefabricated apartment block in Schwerin that is threatened with demolition and is home to a colorful assortment of eccentric residents. He lives there with his alcoholic, bad-tempered mother and conscientiously takes care of the tenants’ wishes and problems. Despite their differences, they form a close-knit community. Roger struggles with his close relationship with his mother and would like a girlfriend, but has no idea how to go about it. When Ellen, a single mother, moves in with her 14-year-old daughter Jill, he feels a certain sympathy for Ellen. However, she has to focus on the neighborhood pub she has taken over and initially pays no attention to his awkward attempts at kindness. Roger soon develops a good rapport with Jill, who misses her father terribly. She advises him to try placing a personal ad. Roger signs up for a dating service via SMS chat, where he develops a surprisingly personal and increasingly intense relationship with someone called “Svenja.” He does not realize that the messages he sends through the service cost money. “Svenja” is actually Ellen, who uses the chat to escape her loneliness and earn some extra money, since women receive a share of the profits. Neither of them suspects the truth until Roger’s mother receives an exorbitantly high phone bill for his messages and denounces the situation on a TV show. Ellen sees the show and confesses to Roger that she is “Svenja,” but that she has genuinely grown fond of him. Deeply hurt all the same, Roger retreats to the roof of the building and refuses to speak to anyone until his mother has an accident. At her hospital bedside, Roger and Ellen make up. At the end, the two of them go on a holiday with Jill, their future uncertain—their apartment block has since been demolished. But they are glad to have each other.