Club der einsamen Herzen (2019)

Kiki: “The other day I read—somewhere—probably in the newspaper, but it doesn’t matter—that people are happiest when they get into a state of flow. That happens when you’re so absorbed in something that you forget everything around you. I also remember exactly what it feels like to be truly happy. Completely swept away, full of longing.” Helga: “Only, that gets harder and harder as you get older. Because those moments don’t happen anymore. You’ve seen most things before, and most of the people you once knew aren’t around anymore anyway.” Helga Kreitmann and Maria Brenner, both nearly 70 and widowed, live in the quiet town of Landshut. During an art class, they unexpectedly run into their former friend Kiki Kröschel, who is appearing there as a model. It has been a long time since the three have seen one another. Helga and Maria reproach Kiki for leaving them in the lurch 45 years ago, when they already had a signed lease for the local dance café. Kiki learns that Maria, who has since handed her jewelry store over to her son Jakob, goes to every funeral in town, while Helga, who lives in an old row house, is still mourning her husband. When a 30-plus party is held at the former dance café, the “Düll,” Kiki persuades Helga and Maria to go. That evening, Kiki suggests that her friends take over the café, which is due to close soon, and finally make their old dream come true. Helga and Maria want nothing to do with the idea and say nobody in Landshut needs Kiki. She decides to end her life by jumping from a bridge. Fortunately, she fails, and Helga, who had sensed what Kiki was going through, joyfully tells her friend that she has decided to buy the dance café and reopen it. She sells her home and buys the café. Her daughters, Sabine and Riccarda, are horrified. They had wanted their mother to sell the house, but had their own plans for the proceeds. Maria is also drawn into the project, while her son Jakob behaves just as selfishly as Helga’s daughters. Together, they plan to put their mothers in a retirement home. Renovating the café proves more difficult and expensive than the three women had hoped, and a burst water pipe puts the whole venture in further danger. Maria therefore decides to retrieve some jewelry belonging to her from the safe in the family jewelry store, together with Kiki. While there, the two women witness Jakob Brenner cheating on his wife with Helga’s daughter Sabine; the two are having sex in the store. Helga and Maria make it unmistakably clear to their children that they have a right to live their own lives and decide how to shape them. This prompts Jakob Brenner, Sabine, and Riccarda Kreitmann to reconsider their behavior. Helga’s old friend Lothar Wessel leaves his provincial wife, Josefine, and confesses to Helga that she has always been the great love of his life. On opening day, the café, decorated in its old style, is packed to the last seat, while backstage Kiki nervously awaits her performance. The once-successful singer performs the chanson “I want to turn back the wheel of time and exist for all eternity,” and receives hearty applause as the people there celebrate her.