Die Konfirmation (2017)

Fifteen-year-old Ben, who is going through puberty and is the son of insurance clerk Johanna Winkler, secretly gets baptized, even though his mother and his stepfather, Felix, a social pedagogue, are atheists and raised Ben accordingly. However, the teenager feels committed to Christianity and wants to show this outwardly as well. Johanna is at a loss about how to deal with her son’s decision, and Felix, too, struggles with how strongly Ben stands by his faith. Johanna finds it hard to accept that her son is slowly growing away from her, but instinctively senses that she could lose him if she opposes his decision to be confirmed as well. So she does everything she can to arrange an appropriate confirmation celebration for him. Although Ben’s father, Simon, who is in his second marriage and is very well off financially, offers to cover the cost of the celebration, Johanna refuses out of misplaced pride. Instead, she goes to a casino, risking a relapse into the gambling addiction she thought she had overcome. Johanna is irritable with Felix more than once and is often away without Felix knowing that she has started going to a casino again, so the social pedagogue is grateful for the understanding conversations he can have with Tabea, Ben’s pastor. At a confirmation candidates’ party where alcohol is also being served, Ben sees Tabea and his stepfather kissing. He records it on his phone. Ben has a good, relaxed relationship with his grandfather, Axel Winkler, and also enjoys talking things over with his best friend, Frida; there is a special bond of trust between them from the very beginning. Like Frida, Ben does not care for a lavish confirmation celebration; after all, he says, it is his day, and he would like to decide for himself how it goes. But after an initial run of good luck at the casino, Johanna keeps losing, and has to cancel the reservation at the expensive restaurant she booked for the celebration. Ben tells his father, Simon, that he made it to the final round of an online test for a scholarship in the United States, but his performance was not good enough. Simon tells him plainly that of course he will pay for Ben’s studies; he is glad Ben asked in the first place. Shortly afterward, Ben has to comfort his mother as she cries and confesses that she is addicted to gambling—something Ben did not know until then—and that she has been to the casino again. A little later, he goes with his mother to the casino, where Johanna has herself placed on the nationwide exclusion list. Ben had advised her to do this. On the evening before his confirmation, Ben gives Frida a pistol—her greatest wish; it is, however, made of chocolate, which amuses them both. When Felix comes in, Ben gives him something too: he lets him press the delete button on the phone to remove the compromising video. Outside the church, Ben then learns from his mother that, while he is away in the United States for a year, she plans to take a year off work and go somewhere with Felix as well. Ben gives his mother a watch with two time zones so she will always know what time it is where he is. The confirmation celebration, which is now held on a more modest scale, is relaxed and informal.