Das Traumpaar (2008)

The two senior citizens Erwin Michels and Günther Schlüter are friends, even though one of them stole the other’s girlfriend when they were young. By now, Günther’s wife has died and Erwin is divorced. Erwin owned a car dealership for many years, but these days he offers only his very personal chauffeur service in a white Mercedes sedan. The vintage car belongs, however, to his old friend Günther, and Erwin would dearly like to buy it from him. Apart from these “professional” connections, they are no longer “independent” in their private lives either: more than twelve years ago, Günther’s daughter married Erwin’s son, and their granddaughter Charlotte is already showing a talent for mechanics in Grandpa Günther’s auto repair shop. Grandpa Erwin, for his part, sometimes does her math homework for her. When the new pharmacist, Anita Lorenz, arrives in town, Erwin and Günther are immediately taken with the attractive, educated woman. Erwin promptly takes the initiative and invites Anita on a picnic. Günther, meanwhile, invites her to dinner, which he has cooked himself. The two men once again become rivals and get into a serious argument over it. Only later do they realize it was all completely unnecessary, since lively Anita keeps choosing a different companion each time. Things are not going well at the moment in the marriage of Erwin’s son and Günther’s daughter. Since Paula went back to work, the two see less of each other, and Paula’s new boss keeps making advances to her, which Thomas has noticed. However, he does not handle his jealous outbursts toward Paula particularly gracefully. Their fathers therefore hatch a plan to bring the couple closer together again. Erwin first buys a bouquet of flowers and has it delivered to Paula in Thomas’s name. Meanwhile, Günther books a vacation trip for the two of them as a surprise, but the plan backfires and puts even more strain on the marriage. It goes so far that Paula promptly moves in with her father. Charlotte is now afraid that her parents will get divorced. In desperation, she not only skips school but simply takes the white Mercedes and, at twelve years old, drives it around town. Fortunately, Kalle, her grandpa’s apprentice, spots her and brings both the child and the car back to Günther. Erwin and Günther make another attempt to bring Paula and Thomas closer together. They lure them to the town palace, which is open to the public as a museum, and lock them in one of the rooms. They leave them alone there for the next three hours, so Paula and Thomas have to talk to each other and cannot avoid one another as they usually do. This time, the little conspiracy works, and family life is back on an even keel.