Mensch Mama! (2012)

Anja Bremer is a capable woman who not only takes care of her husband, children, and the household, but also works part-time at a kindergarten. She does have one problem, though: her husband, Ulli, has become too lackadaisical for her. After work as a fish-market wholesaler, he spends most of his time in front of the television. He gave up long ago on his dream of opening a place of his own. When her friend Marie tells Anja that she has won almost a million euros in the lottery, she feels joy, but conflicting thoughts also run through her mind. What will Ulli do when he finds out they’re rich? She fears he’ll probably quit his job and settle permanently in front of the television. After several attempts to tell Ulli about the win fail, Anja decides not to tell him, but instead to make his dream of having a place of his own come true with the help of her old friend Max Schweitzer, who is a tax accountant. They soon find a suitable property. All that remains is to get Ulli to accept the offer Max makes him. Anja intends to use her winnings to finance the restaurant’s renovations, but Ulli is supposed to believe that the property belongs to Max, who will tell him that he wants to invest some of his own money. After a few initial difficulties, Ulli takes the bait, and this also has a very positive effect on the couple’s family and love life. Ulli wants to serve molecular cuisine at the restaurant and immediately holds a trial cooking session for his family, which is a great success. Ulli’s mother, Thea, who has temporarily moved in with the Bremers, takes part too. But nobody in the family suspects that she is on the run from the bailiff, or that she orders huge quantities of goods online, mostly dolls, which Ulli later discovers in a separate section of his mother’s apartment. Max informs Anja that Ulli is spending money with abandon: he is an economic time bomb and simply doesn’t think in terms of numbers. If he carries on like this, the million will soon be gone, and she can forget about her own dreams. By chance, Ulli discovers the truth shortly before the restaurant is due to open. But his reaction is not what Anja had hoped for: he moves out of the house and wants nothing more to do with the restaurant. His best buddy, Mike, is the one who persuades Ulli to think it all over again. And so the children pick their mother up from singing practice and bring her, blindfolded, to the restaurant, which Ulli has gone ahead and opened after all. Once the couple have agreed that they will both bear in mind what the fine print says—“Everyone as they can, no one as they must”—Ulli thanks his wife and surprises her by announcing that, from now on, he will also supply the kindergarten with meals through an outside catering service, something he has already arranged with her supervisor. The evening ends with Anja winking at her husband as she announces that she has won the lottery and that requests can now be made.