Auf der Suche nach dem G-Punkt (2009)

When Natalie, the wife of successful, dedicated lawyer Max, breaks her leg, she has to spend a few weeks in the hospital. Max, who has never taken much care of his wife or the children, is suddenly forced to step up. Now he has to manage the family, which does not come naturally to him. Until now, his hobbies have been his career and his Porsche. He had noticed that Natalie did not seem entirely happy with their marriage, but he had ignored this and instead made pointed remarks about the cellulite she was beginning to develop. Now that he is alone with the children and the family dog, he happens upon a large number of letters in Natalie’s correspondence, all signed by a certain “G.” “Who is this mysterious ‘G.’, and why is he writing letters to my wife?” Max is immediately convinced that a rival intends to invade his territory, and sets out to find him. His research reveals that the sender is a man named Gregor Teuthoff, who gives general life advice at motivational seminars. The letters also make it clear that their recipient has decided to end her marriage at the end of the school year. Max now has only a few weeks to win his wife’s heart back. He attends the “Be Free!” motivational seminar, hosted by his supposed rival Gregor Teuthoff, and asks him questions from the audience in an attempt to put him on the spot. But Gregor, an experienced seminar host, deftly sidesteps the questions and answers with general platitudes. Max is finally jolted out of his old ways when his daughter Sophie tells him to his face, in front of her brother, that she cannot imagine having a worse father than him. Max is sitting on a park bench, pondering his future, when the motivational coach Gregor jogs past and recognizes him as a seminar participant. Gregor sits down beside Max, and the two begin to philosophize. Max learns that Natalie told Gregor that a marathon would take place on the last day of school, at the end of which she planned to tell Max she wanted to end their marriage. From then on, Max’s life begins to change. He takes a greater interest in his children and starts training so he can take part in the marathon, too. Max pulls out all the stops: on her birthday, he surprises his wife at her hospital bedside with the children and plays the violin for her, moving her almost to tears. On the day she is discharged, she realizes that he has even sold his Porsche, which had always mattered more to him than his own family, and bought a family-friendly station wagon that she can get into comfortably with her cast. Once she gets home, Natalie is astonished by what she sees. Max has bought a new dishwasher for the family household, which until then he had been quite indifferent to. He has also put out flowers to decorate the house for Natalie’s arrival. At the summer fair, where the school festival and marathon are being held, it becomes clear that Gregor was not interested in Natalie but in his friend Lutz’s wife. She and Gregor intend to move to Hamburg and take her children with her. Natalie was indeed the recipient of the letters, but she was only supposed to pass their contents on to Lutz’s wife. Max is relieved, but he feels for Lutz, who is close to tears, because the same relationship drama could just as easily have happened to him. The film ends happily when Natalie confesses to Max that she withdrew a large sum from their joint account to support her friend financially. Max does not dwell on it and makes it clear to Natalie that such things are secondary in a happy family. Overjoyed, Max and Natalie embrace.