Hirngespinster (2014)

Twenty-three-year-old Simon Dallinger is struggling with his father Hans’s schizophrenia, the difficulties it causes, and his feelings for Verena. A satellite dish is installed at the Dallingers’ neighbors’ home in Memmingen. Hans assumes it is meant to read his thoughts, so he tears it down. When the workers who have put it back up are about to drive away, Hans attacks their van with an axe. Simon wants to talk to Hans so he will turn himself in to the police, who have arrived. When Hans opens the door, he is arrested and admitted to a psychiatric clinic. Simon is worried that he, too, might develop schizophrenia someday. He also loses his job driving schoolchildren because the parents do not want “the psycho’s son” driving their children. All of this weighs on him, and on his budding relationship with Verena, who is in town for a short internship before starting medical school in Hamburg. After Hans’s condition improves, he is discharged on the condition that he take his medication. But at home he refuses to take it, so his wife, Elli, decides to mix it into his food. When their daughter Maja is stopped from eating her father’s doctored dessert, Hans realizes that his medication has been secretly added to it. Verena visits Simon at home to say goodbye: her internship is over, and she plans to leave the next day. Simon seems much less affected by their parting than Verena, who leaves the house disappointed. That evening, Simon decides to visit Verena and talk to her about his father’s illness, which he has kept secret until now, and about his worries. The next morning, Verena leaves, and Simon looks into study opportunities in Hamburg. Meanwhile, Hans has driven away from home overnight. He wants to mail his architectural design for a competition. When the police stop him under a bridge, he flees. He manages to lose them and get to the post office. Simon finds him there and wants to drive back with him. But the police spot the car and block it. Hans drives around the police car, but Simon pulls the handbrake to stop his father. They come to a stop in an intersection, and a car slams into their side. Simon is taken to the hospital with serious injuries. There, he receives a postcard from Verena. The film ends with Simon taking a train to Hamburg.