Cindy liebt mich nicht (2010)

Franz is in his late twenties and works as a bartender at the Mannheim bar Cindy Loves Me Not. At the counter, he regularly chats late into the night with his boss, Rainer, and a regular, Zvgalsky, about everything under the sun. His relationships are casual and mean little to him; instead, he lives one day at a time. He lives in a sparsely furnished apartment and drives an old, neglected green-and-brown Passat. He is determined not to lose himself in daydreams. One evening, he meets Maria, a nurse, who unexpectedly strikes up a conversation with him. After her shift, she accompanies him home and asks Franz whether he is interested in a relationship. The two get together, and Franz’s previously commitment-free life is thrown into confusion. Shortly afterward, Maria disappears. David works as a trainee lawyer at a public prosecutor’s office. He is about the same age as Franz and is gradually getting used to a middle-class life with a predictable daily routine. Always impeccably dressed, he is on the verge of securing a permanent position as a prosecutor, which will give him a comfortable and predictable life. However, he is not sure he really wants that life. One evening, he too meets Maria and falls in love with her, until she unexpectedly disappears. By chance, Franz learns from Zvgalsky that he knows a young prosecutor who is also looking for a Maria. Franz goes to see David at the courthouse and asks him about Maria. They realize that they have fallen in love with the same woman and have been part of a love triangle over the past few months. They feel a strong dislike for each other, since Maria was involved with both of them despite their very different personalities. But David also makes it clear to Franz that he will only find Maria again with his help—he knows her last name and where her parents live. The mismatched pair set off together to search for the missing woman. Their journey takes them to Maria’s mother, who lives in a town called Philadelphia. Her mother refuses to say where Maria is and tries to reassure the two men by telling them that Maria is doing well. David finds a letter addressed to Maria and secretly takes it with him. From it, the two men learn that Maria has applied for admission to a psychiatric clinic. David then cancels his first court hearing as lead counsel and persuades Franz to go with him to the clinic. They arrive that evening and encounter an orderly. He plays on the two men’s uncertainty: he gives them orderlies’ uniforms and promises to tell them more about Maria if they take over his night shift. Shortly afterward, he disappears. Their fears about spending the night in the clinic with patients they might be unable to help in an emergency do not come true. Instead, Franz has an engaging conversation with Gabriela, an attractive woman being treated at the clinic for depression. The next day, the orderly returns and reveals that Maria is not there. They will have to travel to Denmark to find out more about her. Franz and David set off. During the journey, the two mismatched men gradually become friends, while tension grows between them over which one Maria will choose when they see her again. But they also realize that they cannot go on living as they have been—constantly searching for something different and better. When they arrive in Denmark, they stand outside the house whose address the orderly gave them. They hear Maria’s voice through an open window, but the person who answers the door is Olaf, a man about their age. Franz and David are shocked to learn that he is Maria’s husband and has been married to her for seven years. Together, they watch a video of Maria and realize that she suffers from depression, which makes it impossible for her to have a relationship with just one person. Rather, the feeling of loving and being loved gives her the greatest sense of being alive. In addition, fiction and real life blur together for her—in the video, she talks about a Cindy who is incapable of love. Her husband knows about her weakness but loves her all the same and hopes Maria will return to him soon. David and Franz have to accept that neither of them will win Maria for himself. They return to Germany. David borrows Franz’s car and drives off the ferry into an uncertain future. Franz leaves the ferry on foot, equally unsure of what his life will bring. They both know that Maria has changed their lives, even though neither of them has a future with her.