Einer wie Bruno (2011)

Thirteen-year-old Radost lives alone with her father, Bruno. Her mother died a long time ago. Bruno was born with an intellectual impairment and has a developmental disability, which makes him more of a playmate than a parent in everyday life. Even so, the two get along well and can keep the youth welfare office at bay with a series of rehearsed tricks. Once again, Radost and Bruno are hatching a ruse to fool the strict Ms. Corazon from the youth welfare office. Father and daughter practice together so that Bruno can at least seem like a responsible father for the duration of the social worker’s coffee visit. But really, Bruno and Radost do not need any significant outside help: Bruno has a job stocking shelves at a supermarket, while Radost, who is very reserved at school because of her family situation, attends a grammar school and is an excellent student. Only her teachers know about her somewhat unusual family arrangement. Her classmates, by contrast, have no idea that her father Bruno is intellectually disabled, and Radost wants it to stay that way. But as Radost enters puberty, the first serious problems emerge. She wants more freedom and no longer wants to spend all her time with Bruno—for example, going to the zoo or playing animal-guessing games. Radost would rather listen to music, take photographs and lose herself in her own thoughts—including thoughts about Benny Schmidtbauer, the new boy in her class. The amateur guitarist dreams of a music career, and that is not the only reason the girls in the class immediately flock around him. With her unfashionable clothes and uncool manner, Radost struggles even to get the attention of the class heartthrob. But she is good at math, and Benny is not, so her homeroom teacher arranges for her to tutor him. Spending afternoons at his parents’ modern, cultured home, free of all thoughts and worries about her father Bruno, Radost discovers how carefree and easy life must feel for her classmates. She begins to look forward to the afternoon tutoring sessions, even though Benny still sees her only as a classmate. At the same time, Bruno and Radost’s relationship keeps deteriorating, and it weighs on them both. Neither of them wants to show it. Bruno confides his worries to his boss, who is sympathetic. The supermarket manager kindly explains that there comes a time when parents and children do not get along particularly well for a while; it is simply due to hormones and puberty. Bruno feels somewhat reassured after their conversation. Instinctively, he senses the changes Radost is going through. But with his childlike nature, he cannot really adapt to this new and unfamiliar situation, and he tries with all his might to hold on to his former role in Radost’s life. With every new idea of his, however well-intentioned, the gulf grows between his increasingly grown-up daughter and the man who remains childlike. The situation only truly goes off the rails when Benny suddenly turns up at Radost’s apartment one day. Her father is delighted to finally meet one of his daughter’s friends and immediately starts teaching his guest his favorite game. Benny is supposed to guess animal names, and Bruno is in his element—which embarrasses Radost terribly. The next morning, she desperately asks him to keep quiet about it. A short time later, the class sets off on a multi-day trip to a school hostel. It is the first time father and daughter have been apart for so long. Radost even enjoys the rainy hikes and, unlike her classmates, manages to find something positive in everything. Back home, however, chaos takes hold of Bruno. At first, he sticks to their agreement, sitting in front of the television in the evenings and growing bored as he waits for the school trip to end. Then he gets the idea to visit his daughter. He gets on the next bus and travels to see her. Radost is not at all pleased. Under no circumstances must her classmates, who are slowly becoming her friends, see her father. She forces Bruno back onto the bus to go home. After Radost returns home, they have a huge fight. The further father and daughter drift apart, the closer Radost and Benny become. But their first kiss, thanks to Bruno’s appearance, turns into a real scandal. The relationship between Bruno and Radost seems to be irreparably broken. The girl even calls Ms. Corazon at the youth welfare office herself and complains that she cannot stand her family situation anymore and no longer wants to be the adult in their relationship. On top of that, Benny has not kept their situation confidential: he has used his growing closeness to Radost to turn her life with her father into a song called “Babydaddy,” which he performs with his band at a live concert. Photographs of Radost’s father are projected onto the wall. Radost, who is there and drunk, interrupts the performance and leaves the concert furious and disappointed, feeling betrayed by Benny. In this situation, however, Bruno manages to soothe his daughter again with his childlike charm. The two reconcile, and Radost accepts her unusual family situation and the responsibility she has toward her father.