Die Zeit mit Euch (2014)

Three married couples who are all friends with one another see their seemingly happy private lives fall apart. Vera cheats on Heiko with another man in a hotel and even gives him a rare book edition belonging to her husband. What Vera and Heiko themselves do not know is that Heiko has cancer and is considered to have exhausted his treatment options. After three years, the oncologist Klaus admits in front of his friends and Marlene that he is having an affair with the young Floriane, who is now pregnant by him, even though he had never wanted children with Marlene. Things are also badly strained between Paul and Christiane: Paul barely pays any attention to his wife. Faced with all these personal disasters, each of them must figure out how best to deal with the new situation and ultimately overcome it. Marlene immediately throws Klaus out, whereupon he moves in with Floriane. Her friends try to support her, but manage only to a limited extent. Paul has recently retired and at first gives himself over to idleness. Christiane refuses to accept this and, after years as a housewife, tries to return to work. One advantage is that she will earn her own money. Since Paul has also developed a penny-pinching streak in retirement—even cancelling a planned trip to the USA with Heiko—she no longer has to ask him for every euro. Once Christiane succeeds in returning to work, she can no longer stand her petty-minded husband and moves in with Marlene. Paul learns his lesson and begins to improve; he also tries to win Christiane back with a funny video message. Heiko, a high-school teacher, is not pleased when Vera tells him about the supposed sale of the first edition that means so much to him. When Vera realizes this, she asks her friend Martin to return the book. Heiko is still angry, though. At another gathering of the friends, this time without Klaus, Vera is in for two surprises: Marlene introduces Martin of all people as her new companion, and Heiko suffers a collapse. At the clinic, they learn that he has an incurable brain tumor. That also puts an end to Heiko’s trip to America. The tumor grows so quickly that within just a few weeks Heiko becomes dependent on care. With Heiko’s end approaching, all the friends agree to one last gathering. They meet at a holiday home on neutral ground, all of them including Klaus with his new family, as well as Martin. Remembering the old days, they spend a few days together in the familiar harmony of the past.