Kein Herz für Inder (2017)

Because their 16-year-old daughter Fiona is a real loner and has no real friends, her estranged parents, Charlotte and Erik Neufund, agree to a student exchange on the advice of her homeroom teacher. A Beatles fan, her father spontaneously picks a child named “Sandy McCartney” from the list of exchange students. They look forward to a cool British girl who will bring Fiona out of her lethargy. But Sandy turns out to be a 13-year-old boy of Indian descent named Sacchidananda, who has a few surprises in store for his host family. On the one hand, he has a charmingly calm and cheerful manner and is very knowledgeable; on the other, he insists on his traditional rituals, which are hard to reconcile with the Neufunds’ daily routine. Fiona, too, is initially rather put off by him. The Neufunds, however, have little basis for expecting a harmonious household: Erik Neufund is battling the tax authorities, his wife is having a full-blown affair with a lawyer, and Fiona’s older sister Annika wants nothing more to do with her family anyway. So they decide to send Sandy back to London. But on Sandy’s last day at school, he bravely stands up for Fiona against the taunts of the boorish classmate Benedikt. Impressed by him, she no longer wants him to leave, saying that he is her friend now. Her parents have to accept this, albeit reluctantly. Fiona’s father—the mother has gone away with her lover—is arrested by the police in front of her because of his tax debts. Fiona and Sandy then secretly set off for London to visit Sandy’s parents. Since the Neufunds can’t afford a plane ticket, they follow in their rickety old VW van. There, in a harmonious atmosphere, they talk things out, and the conversation leads to the Neufunds deciding to stay together after all. They return to Germany with Sandy, and the exchange continues.