Der Wettbewerb (2011)

Hubert Fischbach, who lives in Vienna, is happy with his life. He gets along well with his wife, Henni, and his children, ten-year-old Alina and eight-year-old Theo, hardly cause him any trouble. He works as a manager at an energy company, where a new opportunity has just opened up for him. One disappointment for Hubert is that his father, a retired general, has never acknowledged his achievements, either in the past or now; to him, Hubert was and is never good enough. His father has always favored Hubert’s brother, Viktor. The brothers live, so to speak, wall to wall, each in one half of a semi-detached house their father gave them. Otherwise, they have little in common. Viktor sees Hubert as an upwardly mobile man on a successful career path who also drives a luxury SUV. Hubert sees Viktor as a small-time shopkeeper with an organic grocery store and an electric bicycle. Barbs between the brothers are a daily occurrence. When both brothers decide to enter an eco-contest—though Hubert first has to be persuaded by his children—trouble is inevitable. Viktor, by contrast, knew from the outset that he would take part, convinced that the win would be all but his. The selection process is strict and closely monitored. The aim is to determine which family in the community leaves the smallest ecological footprint. Viktor, his wife Margit, and their twelve-year-old daughter Viktoria have lived in an extremely environmentally conscious way for years. Hubert is the kind of person who wants to win any competition he enters. Losing—and perhaps even losing to his younger brother—is not an option for him. Viktor initially laughs indulgently at Hubert’s first attempts to go green, but as time goes on, his smile grows increasingly strained. The brothers’ rivalry takes a turn that worries their wives. The children, too, suffer from their fathers’ behavior as the contest goes on. But the brothers are so caught up in the need to defeat each other that they do not even shy away from physical attacks. After Henni and Margit leave their husbands and homes with their children, a particularly underhanded series of actions at least leads to a brief heart-to-heart between the brothers. Then the day arrives when the winner of the climate contest is announced. Both Hubert and Viktor publicly apologize to their wives and children. Neither of them wins the contest. Henni and Margit insist, however, that they need some time to think. In the end, they decide to give their husbands one more chance—the last one. Hubert and Viktor also have a surprise in store: they want to start a business together, an organic supermarket. Viktor says they plan to make it big throughout Germany, and Hubert suggests calling the company “Bio-Fischbach.” At the name, Viktor pulls a face, but Hubert reminds him that he studied marketing. Viktor still insists the name is nonsense, ignoring Hubert’s point that it contains “Bio,” “Fisch,” and “Bach.” And so they carry on, while Henni and Margit exchange knowing, amused smiles.