Mein erster Freund, Mutter und ich (2003)

Sixteen-year-old Nicole may seem rather inconspicuous in her old-fashioned clothes and horn-rimmed glasses, but she is a clever, lively girl. So far, though, no boy has seen this side of her. At a party, Nicole meets Daniel Winter and falls in love for the first time. As luck would have it, he also joins her class after having to change schools because of his ex-girlfriend. Daniel is no great scholar and suffers from terrible exam anxiety, but after a brief hesitation he gratefully accepts Nicole’s offer to tutor him. During their very first tutoring session, the two kiss, but Nicole’s mother, Sonja Maibach, abruptly interrupts them. Their happiness seems to be in danger in other ways, too. For one thing, there is Nicole’s mother, who has been deeply suspicious of the opposite sex ever since Nicole’s father and Sonja’s ex-husband, Sven, cheated on her with another woman. She runs a fidelity-testing agency called In Flagranti and, of course, immediately makes it her mission to spy on Daniel, after having predicted to Nicole that sooner or later he would lie to her or cheat on her, too. Meanwhile, her father Sven supports the young couple’s budding romance, naturally also hoping to get one over on his ex-wife. He runs an unsuccessful dating service for seniors. On Daniel’s very first evening, Nicole’s mother invites him to dinner to grill him and embarrass Nicole by revealing personal details about her. Daniel has so far failed his driving test because of his exam anxiety, but in sheer desperation he claims that he does have a driver’s license. When Daniel nearly runs Nicole over during another driving test, her suspicions about him grow. Encouraged by Sven, Daniel apologizes to Nicole with a huge bouquet of roses, but has to endure being hit with Sonja’s clothes hanger, as she mistakes the nighttime intruder for a burglar. To make matters worse, Sonja sets her employee Leslie on Daniel after seeing him with his ex-girlfriend, Mandy. Since the video recording of Daniel’s meeting with Leslie has been overwritten at the crucial moment, Nicole believes that he cheated on her with Leslie. The two had planned to have sex for the first time at Nicole’s father’s apartment while he was away. But Sven tried to calm Daniel’s nerves with some alcohol, so by the time Nicole arrives at the apartment, furious and disappointed about Leslie, Daniel is drunk. Nicole leaves even angrier and wants nothing more to do with him. She seeks comfort from Caro, her best friend. But Caro has feelings for Nicole, too, and kisses her, leaving Nicole with nowhere to turn. Nicole’s little sister Jule is also having problems after hearing from her father that she was an accident. So she runs away to the circus, and her parents once again blame each other. At school, Daniel now has to take his biology exam, for which he had previously studied with Nicole. He talks about the courtship behavior of peacocks and relates it to his relationship with Nicole in such a way that, after his presentation, she forgives him. The two go together to a tower, where they have sex for the first time. The next day is Daniel’s birthday, and Nicole plans to surprise him at his father’s cactus nursery. But when she enters the nursery and climbs into Sir Henry, an old Mercedes minibus Daniel inherited from his grandfather, with her picnic basket, she finds Mandy, Daniel’s ex-girlfriend, half-naked inside. Daniel had previously passed Mandy off to Nicole as his cousin. Nicole runs off in a fury, wishing that the previous day had never happened. Once again, the two stop speaking to each other, even after Daniel passes his year at school thanks to his presentation about peacocks. Nicole’s mother has by now discovered that Daniel rejected Leslie, making him the first of 417 men to remain faithful. She wants to apologize to Nicole and gives her blessing to the relationship. She also pieces back together a photo of Nicole and Daniel that Nicole had torn up, as a gesture of making amends. At first, however, Nicole wants nothing more to do with Daniel. But Caro, having made peace with Nicole after her unsuccessful attempt to hit on her, is able to resolve this problem, too. She encourages Nicole and proves that nothing is going on between Daniel and Mandy by kissing Mandy in front of the entire class. Nicole grabs her bicycle and races after Daniel, who is already on his way to Spain to go kite surfing. With great difficulty, she manages to jump into the minibus, and the two happily travel to Spain together. The relationship between Nicole’s parents, Sonja and Sven, also seems headed for a happy ending. After Sven’s old convertible, in which Jule was conceived, has to be scrapped, the two find their way back to each other. Sonja gives up her fidelity-testing agency and joins Sven’s senior dating service.