Lottoschein ins Glück (2003)

Astrid Seibels was left by her husband, Robert, for a younger woman. She is now raising their two daughters, Imke and Luzie, on her own, and gets little help from Robert. He usually doesn’t even pay child support on time and would rather stop paying it altogether. Unfortunately, Astrid also loses her job and decides to fill out a lottery ticket for once. She gets lucky: she picks all six winning numbers and becomes a triple-millionaire. But her friend has foolishly lost the ticket, and since it has no name on it, Astrid has little chance of claiming her winnings. She has no idea that the man who found the ticket is the very man she has just fallen in love with. Felix, too, doesn’t know that he owes his financial good fortune to Astrid. The winnings could not only save his house from foreclosure, but also finally let him buy a stylish new car. When a friend advises him not to tell his new girlfriend about his good fortune, since it would only unnecessarily disrupt their relationship, Felix keeps quiet about being a lottery winner. But when he learns about Astrid’s lost ticket, he is torn by his conscience. His friend, however, says that given his financial situation, he can’t afford to be a good person. Astrid’s ex-husband knows her lucky numbers and now thinks he has won the lottery too, since their divorce agreement had not yet been signed on the day she won. At first, he refuses to believe that the ticket has been lost. Robert tries to find out through his daughters whether Astrid is really telling the truth. When they leave no room for doubt, he uses his connections to discover who claimed the winning ticket. He succeeds and immediately informs Astrid that Felix, of all people, now has her money. She is devastated and never wants to see Felix again. Since he was the last person to have the ticket, there is no legal recourse against him. But Felix is not as bad as she thinks. His conscience is bothering him too, and he simply drops the suitcase containing the winnings at Astrid’s feet, even though she wants nothing more to do with him. Her children immediately start playing Monopoly with real money, but Astrid doesn’t really care about any of it. She is mourning the love she has lost, and she is little comforted by Robert suddenly lavishing attention on her and pretending that he is still in love with her. But Astrid quickly sees what he is up to and turns down his offer of reconciliation. Felix has decided not to wait for his villa to be foreclosed on, but to move to Berlin with his son instead. He drives to Astrid’s once more to let her know. He tells her how sorry he is about everything and that he had hoped things would work out between them. She was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. As he takes one last look at his property, Astrid suddenly appears with her daughters, and he learns that she has bought his villa at auction. Without much explanation, she asks Felix how they should paint their bedroom.