Der Mann an ihrer Seite (2008)

Eva Hübner works as an assistant at a management consultancy, making coffee while her bosses pass off her ideas as their own. One day, her husband Max, a carpenter, tells her that he has lost his job at the company where he works. The next day, Eva is promoted at her firm and asked to take charge of planning a conference because the employee who was supposed to organize it is unable to work due to a high-risk pregnancy. When the keynote speaker, Dr. Stein, cancels at short notice because he never received a contract due to an oversight, Eva’s persistence finally gets him to agree to attend, and the two become friends. In her new leadership position, Eva also has to stand up to Rebecca, an assistant who schemes against her. While Max is still getting used to doing housework, Uwe and Jacki, Max and Eva’s best friends, have had a baby and are coping well with the situation. Max still clings to the traditional idea that housework is women’s business and careers are men’s. As Eva anxiously prepares for her first conference, Max gets an interview for a job. At the conference, a participant accidentally spills coffee on Eva’s dress. Dr. Stein helps her out of the predicament and gives her tips for overcoming her nerves. Eva’s conference proves a great success despite all the setbacks, and Dr. Stein offers her a job with him. Max’s career opportunity, meanwhile, turns out to be a holiday cover position at a mass-production window factory. At the same time, Eva’s boss offers to promote her to manager and put her in charge of the next conference straightaway. She accepts and also makes peace with Rebecca, who has repeatedly felt overlooked, despite having contributed time and again during her 15 years at the company. To avoid further aggravating Max’s resentment about being unemployed, Eva changes into her business clothes on the way to work. Even so, he becomes jealous one day when he plans a surprise outing for her and sees her and Dr. Stein leaving the company building together in a familiar, comfortable manner. Although Eva insists that nothing is going on between her and Dr. Stein, Max suspects an affair when she forgets their wedding anniversary. His suspicions do not ease when he follows her on the day of the conference, watching her change clothes on the way and then drive to Dr. Stein’s home after the conference to celebrate the success of the new conference with him. Dr. Stein has to go to Hong Kong for work for a while and offers to take Eva with him, but she declines. When Max confronts Eva with what he has seen and considers their relationship over, Eva packs her bags and moves out. Max makes a wooden sculpture of two lovers and surprises Eva with it at her office. He tells her he has decided to become self-employed, and she tells him she is pregnant; the two reconcile. Four years later, Max and their twin sons visit Eva at the office.