Freischwimmer (2007)

Fifteen-year-old Rico Bartsch is a clear outsider and loner at his school, Kafka High: he has a serious hearing problem and has not had the hoped-for success in sports either—his real strength lies more in the creative arts. In swimming, he is beaten by his rival Robert Greiner and also fails the test for the swimming proficiency badge. Robert is not only his biggest rival in sports, but also the boyfriend of the attractive Regine, whom Rico secretly loves. Rico lives with his widowed mother, who is in a relationship with Rico’s despised PE teacher, Richard Sammer. Rico’s father, a drinker, drowned in an accident before Rico’s eyes. His mother and Sammer were there too and watched him drown without doing anything. One day, Rico finds a love bone in a bag hanging from his locker. Robert takes the pastry without asking and dies shortly afterward. It later turns out that it was poisoned. Robert’s death does not affect Rico very much. He is even glad to be rid of the unpopular tyrant at last. When it emerges that the love bone was actually meant for Rico, he suddenly becomes the focus of attention. Rico decides to stop going to school for a while and would rather help out at his mother’s pharmacy. The fact that he cannot get a job as a locomotive driver because of his hearing loss makes him even less inclined to go to school. So as not to fall behind in his studies, Rico decides to take tutoring from Martin Wegner, his always-friendly art and German teacher. The two outsiders get along very well and develop a friendship. They share a love of model-making, as well as a sense of being different. Martin Wegner lives alone in his late parents’ secluded villa in the woods. Although he loves Michaela Rammelow, the music teacher, he refuses to let her into his house. He explains that he needs absolute quiet for his work, which is about silence. He is fascinated by the fact that Rico, who has a hearing problem, can experience silence without difficulty when he switches off his hearing aid. Together, Rico and Wegner begin making a doll intended to look like Regine. One evening, Regine lures Rico into an ambush, and she and her friends torment him horribly because Regine is convinced that Rico is responsible for Robert’s death. After Regine’s friends let him go, he flees to Wegner. Wegner shows him a secret—a painstakingly accurate miniature replica of Rico’s entire class. He convinces Rico that he can get rid of all his hatred by destroying the model dolls. After Rico takes the model of Regine apart, Michaela, Wegner’s girlfriend, arrives. Since Regine’s model is already destroyed, Michaela has to serve as a “replacement doll,” bound. Rico and Martin Wegner then destroy all the dolls, and finally Wegner cuts his girlfriend’s throat with a dagger. Wegner does not regret what he has done and says only that he now knows what absolute silence feels like. When Wegner mentions that he also has a score to settle in Tübingen, where he studied, Rico becomes afraid. That same evening, Sammer, his archenemy and his mother’s partner, attacks Rico by stealth. Rico manages to push the PE teacher into the river. However, he saves Sammer after Rico’s classmates start throwing stones at him. Regine is now certain that Rico cannot be responsible for Robert’s murder. The next day, Rico returns to Wegner, having promised to go with him to Tübingen. After Rico confesses to Wegner that he murdered Robert, he poisons his teacher with a love bone in the same way Robert died. Rico covers his tracks and makes everything look as though Wegner killed himself. The final scene shows the school celebration that everyone has been preparing for over a long time. Shortly before the film ends, Regine confesses to Rico, whom she believes to be innocent, that she loves him, and Rico’s wish and greatest dream finally come true after all.