Liebe ist die beste Medizin (2004)

Peter Haller is a successful big-city doctor. He has long since left his life in the countryside behind when one day he receives news that his father, Professor Maximilian Haller, a successful country doctor, has died. Forced to do so, Peter returns to his hometown. He does not feel particularly sad about his father’s death, since he cut off contact with him years ago. Peter remembers his father Maximilian only as a heartless man who could not prevent Peter’s mother from losing her battle with cancer when Peter was just ten years old. Ever since then, Peter has been firmly convinced that Maximilian lacks the necessary competence as a doctor and, moreover, values his work more than his family. When Peter arrives in the rural area, he has no idea at first about the events that have been kept from him. His father Maximilian is not actually dead at all; with the help of his friend Wenzel and the housekeeper Clara, Maximilian has merely faked his own death to persuade Peter to take over the country practice, since Maximilian is no longer in good enough health to keep running the thriving practice. Peter, however, is firmly determined to settle the estate as quickly as possible and then leave the rural area he has come to dislike without delay. At the housekeeper Clara’s urging, Peter agrees to spend one night in his childhood home. He has to admit to himself that, during that time, childhood memories he had long repressed come back to him. That one night turns into several. During this time, Peter also meets the attractive Stella, who runs a pizzeria in town. Peter realizes that she is a sensitive person, since she often faints when she feels overwhelmed by external circumstances. At first Peter pretends that he is looking after Stella purely in a medical capacity, until he has to admit to himself that he is in love with her. When the first rumors begin circulating in the rural idyll, where everyone knows everyone, that the big-city doctor Peter may have fallen in love with Stella, who is very much a country girl, Stella decides to break off her existing engagement to Giuseppe, as she too has developed feelings for Peter. This is when Peter’s father, whom Peter believes to be dead, decides to reveal his plan publicly and tell his son the truth about his faked death. The film’s plot takes a dramatic turn when Peter has to defend himself against Stella’s former fiancé, Giuseppe, in his childhood home, and his father Maximilian suffers a (real) heart attack in the garden of the property.