Mensch Kotschie (2010)

Jürgen Kotschie is about to turn 50. With a family (his wife Karin and son Mario), a large house, and a good job as a civil engineer, Jürgen should have nothing to worry about. Instead, he falls into an existential crisis, finding his everyday life increasingly oppressive and his life increasingly meaningless. His father lives in a care home, no longer speaks, and constantly clings to a TV remote. Jürgen regularly brings him from the home to the family house, where he still just sits silently clutching his remote. Jürgen now often thinks back to his former lover, Carmen Schöne, with whom he had an affair eight years ago. Carmen also appears in his dreams. One day, when he is supposed to pick up his father, the old man dies. On the way back, Jürgen does not go home but picks up a hitchhiker, whom he later takes to a karaoke bar to celebrate. After he is left alone at the bar and gets lost, a dog comes up to him, and he takes it along on his drive. He decides to visit his former lover Carmen, who lives with her husband, Manfred, and their daughter, Jenny. Apparently, Jenny is Jürgen’s illegitimate child, though no one knows this. The next day, Jürgen picks Jenny up from school under a pretext and takes her to an amusement park. Before driving her back, he withdraws 20,000 euros from the bank and gives it to Jenny in an envelope. Before driving into a forest, Jürgen abandons the dog. There, he plans to poison himself with the car exhaust. When he wakes up, he is still alive because the dog had torn off the hose that was supposed to carry the exhaust fumes into the car. Jürgen dances and finds a new will to live.