Frauen wollen mehr (2009)

In Kremmen, a small town in the Oberhavel district, there are fewer and fewer women. They all leave their hometown to seek their fortune in the big city. This displeases the marriageable men, who are still unsuccessfully looking for women. Ben, the village macho, often spends time with his two buddies, Steffen and Mario. He gives them good tips on how best to impress women, but unfortunately they struggle to put them into practice. One day, the beautiful fashion designer Maja Rebner arrives to sell her aunt’s old weaving mill, and Ben takes a keen interest—not only in the mill, but in the seller as well. He actually knew her as a child, but never expected to find such an attractive woman standing before him now. The whole town stops and stares when she arrives. Ben wants to drive down the purchase price at any cost. When Maja decides to have an appraiser assess the property, Ben promptly dresses up Steffen Petzke for the role and tells him what to point out. That evening, Maja meets Ben at the local pub, where Steffen and Mario are among those who show up. In lively company, Maja gives the men tips on how they could make themselves a little more attractive to women, so the women won’t keep running away in droves. Ben pulls out all his seduction tricks to get Maja into bed. Secretly, he bets Steffen that it won’t take long. Since everyone had drunk quite a lot that evening, it wasn’t hard to make it happen. The next morning, Maja is horrified and hastily withdraws. To take her mind off things, she helps Mario, a farmer, with his cows. He confesses that he is firmly determined to end his single life. He asks her for advice, since she is a fashion expert and a woman, after all. That very evening, he turns up to see his friends looking freshly styled and groomed. A first response to his personal ad makes him really happy. But it turns out that his friends had ordered the woman from an escort service for him. Meanwhile, Maja takes a trip into the past. Photos in her aunt’s cupboard bring back memories of her childhood. An outing with Ben to the places where she grew up gets her thinking that perhaps she might stay in Kremmen and get the old weaving mill up and running again. She is extremely surprised when Ben invites her to his home. The apartment is furnished in a very modern and tasteful way, which she had not expected. What she doesn’t know is that he is only pretending to be the homeowner: the impressive house belongs to one of his lovers. Impressed by all this, Maja continues her affair with him, which seems to end the moment her boyfriend Luca arrives in Kremmen. At first, he makes quite an impression on the remaining women of Kremmen with his polished, gentlemanly manner. Doreen Schubert is particularly taken with Luca. She has been living with Steffen for eight years and has lately become increasingly annoyed with him. Luca soon discovers, however, that Maja has slept with Ben. Angrily, he ends their relationship and drives away. Maja goes to Ben, feeling somewhat guilty, but he is not at all pleased that she has turned up. An estate agent has bought the weaving mill from Ben for 290,000, after Maja had let Ben have it for 70,000. She also learns about the bet with Steffen. So outraged is she that she wants to undo the sale. Doreen is also disappointed by Steffen’s behavior and wants to accompany Maja when she leaves Kremmen. In the meantime, Mario has immersed himself in women’s concerns and what they really want, and he passes his insights on to the village men. He puts them through a proper fitness and etiquette course, gives them dance lessons, and coaches them in everything they need to know about women. It doesn’t take long for his efforts to bear fruit. One after another, the men find girlfriends, including Mario himself. Most of the women are from the town, and the men had never even noticed them before. Steffen also courts Doreen and even proposes to her, which she accepts, overjoyed. Ben, however, is utterly devastated. He asks Maja to forgive him, but she wants nothing more to do with him. She is far too disappointed. Not even his tearing up the purchase contract convinces her. When his friends realize how serious he is about Maja, they decide to help him. To stop her from leaving Kremmen, they block the road. Ben surprises her with a newly equipped weaving workshop for artistic work, which he has set up for her in his old workshop. He confesses his love, and she forgives him. A short time later, the weaving mill is thriving, and with Luca’s help, Maja succeeds in supplying her fabrics all the way to Milan. The town’s women find work with her and no longer have any reason to leave Kremmen.