Die Luft, die wir atmen (2021)

A nursing home in the Taunus is cut off from the outside world by a cold snap and black ice. Visitors and staff can no longer leave, so those affected are forced to spend the night there. Director Sina Kunz and her team, now having to work double shifts, do their best to care for everyone and find them somewhere to sleep. This requires improvisation, since the caterer can no longer deliver to the home and not every extra guest can be given a private room. The funeral director will also be unable to collect the recently deceased Mrs. Leszek that day, so, as her room is needed too, they have to keep her temporarily outside in the cold. The various storylines at the home unfold in parallel. Klaus is visiting his life partner, Sylvia. He would like nothing more than to bring her home, but she firmly refuses. She does not want to be a burden to him, as her illness is causing her to waste away and become increasingly dependent on care. Since he can no longer drive away in his car, he initially stays in the home’s dining room. Sylvia talks with nurse Martina and eventually approaches Klaus again. The two end up spending the night together and growing closer emotionally. Jürgen’s mother is dying, but he cannot tear himself away from the mother he despises, whom he has cared for over many years, and has already spent the whole day at her side. His sister Lana urges him to finally come with her, but he cannot. Later, when he has to rest in Mrs. Leszek’s room after a panic attack, he meets the deceased woman’s daughter. Marianna, who kept postponing her visits, did not arrive at the home until her mother had already died. She eventually goes outside with Jürgen to see her mother and say goodbye. After talking with Marianna, Jürgen finally calls his sister and asks if he can stop by later. Alisa visits her father, who has dementia, hoping at last to get signing authority over his bank account from the former guitar maker. She and her wife, Sarah, can barely afford the costs anymore. When her father refuses her request, she simply steals the key to his storage room, where expensive woods are kept. But Sarah does not want to steal from the old man; it would put a strain on the two women’s relationship. Alisa eventually throws the key into a bush. She decides to use the time to talk to her father again. He says he will give her the authority if she finishes building the last guitar with him. She does so with him during the night, but after he gives her the account details, she discovers there is no money to withdraw. Her father tells her to take the key from the drawer and sell the valuable wood. Alisa searches desperately outside for the key and manages to find it. Sarah joins her wife; the two embrace and kiss. The next morning, visitors can use the roads again and return to their everyday lives. The extra hours made available by what was initially an involuntary stay have given the protagonists ways to resolve their problems.