Jonathans Liebe (2001)

While Christoph knows how to charm women, his brother Jonathan is the exact opposite. Because of spastic paralysis, Jonathan uses a wheelchair and has a speech impediment, but he is highly intelligent: resourceful and with a certain wit, he creates websites on his computer. Christoph hardly looks after his brother, since Jonathan has the loving housekeeper Bertchen, who is there for him and takes care of him. That changes one day when Bertchen has to go to the hospital because of circulatory problems and can no longer look after Jonathan. Christoph realizes that he himself must step in and help his brother with everyday tasks. Jonathan initially refuses to accept his brother’s help, but Christoph moves in with him anyway. Jonathan begins to show a completely different side of himself when Christoph brings his new coworker Nina home. A kind of rivalry develops between the brothers, since they are both interested in the pretty Nina. Christoph manages to get closer to her by showing her some lyrics she had urgently been looking for on behalf of an acquaintance. However, he does not tell her that Jonathan actually wrote them. Jonathan is already working on another set of lyrics for Nina, while Christoph enjoys cozy moments with her. But then Jonathan discovers that his brother is playing dirty by passing off Jonathan’s lyrics as his own. When Nina also finds out at a singing rehearsal that the lyrics are actually Jonathan’s, she feels guilty. At first, she gives Christoph a piece of her mind and assures him that she will never be able to believe anything he says again. At the same time, she develops strong feelings for Jonathan. Toward the end of the film, events take a dramatic turn. Jonathan realizes that his brother has hired the escort Marion for his birthday party to distract him from Nina, whom he has been looking at the whole time. After Christoph spends a passionate night with Marion, she tells him that Jonathan has apparently seen through the charade and disappeared with his wheelchair. Christoph and Nina set out together to look for him. Meanwhile, Jonathan sets off on his own, wheeling his chair into the street amid heavy city traffic. Several traffic accidents are narrowly prevented only because the other road users remain alert. Intending to end his life, Jonathan wheels straight toward an oncoming truck. His brother intervenes courageously at the last second, pulling him out of the wheelchair and saving him; they both end up on the sidewalk. At the end of the story, Nina confesses her love for Jonathan, and he forgives his brother for his lies.