Mensch Mutter (2003)

On New Year’s Eve, Verena Kröger says goodbye to her son Mike, then plans to ring in the new year with her friend Renate. The year gets off to a bad start when she and her brother Rolf receive a call saying that their mother has suffered a stroke and is in the hospital. Because Rolf has little room due to his family situation, it is settled that Vreni will take their mother, Hilde, in for a while, especially since that is what the older woman wants, too. Hilde Teichmann is very domineering and shows little understanding of the fact that Vreni and her husband, Manfred, a successful lawyer, have separated—even though Manfred left Verena for a younger woman. Like her friend Renate, Vreni works as an editor at a publishing house. When the head of the children’s book department position becomes vacant, she faces competition from the younger Dana Kosswitz, who works in marketing. Dr. Geller, their boss, tells the two women that he considers them both capable of taking on the role. They are to develop a proposal together and present it at the Children’s Book Days in Augsburg, which are taking place in two weeks. In the house opposite Verena Kröger’s apartment lives Arno Schuster with his wheelchair-bound mother, who makes his life quite difficult and also suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. When the older woman dies, Hilde Teichmann suspects that Arno Schuster had something to do with his mother’s death. However, Mrs. Schuster died of sudden heart failure. When the presentation at the Children’s Book Days is in danger of failing because of Dana Kosswitz’s mistake, Verena comes up with a last-minute idea that leads to success. Dana proves herself a good sport in defeat. However, Verena asks for time to think about the new position now being offered to her, because after another spell of weakness her mother cannot return to her own apartment, and a solution must first be found. Verena assures her mother that if she wants to stay with her, Verena will give up the new position. At Hilde Teichmann’s birthday party, an unpleasant scene occurs, partly because Hilde invited Manfred Kröger on Vreni’s behalf. After Verena locks herself out, she takes refuge with Arno Schuster, who has sold his house and is just about to leave for Nashville. He assures Verena that she is a truly wonderful woman. Once the party is over, mother and daughter have a long, frank talk. Verena tells her mother that all her life she has tried to be like her: so beautiful, so wonderful, so funny, so clever. Even after moving out, she would keep catching herself thinking that her mother would surely have done things differently—and better. She married the man her mother thought so highly of, and when they eventually separated, it took her an awfully long time to tell her. She kept thinking: if she couldn’t hold on to such a wonderful man, what would her mother think of her? She had never wanted to disappoint her. She had kept thinking that if her mother didn’t love her, who would? Their frank conversation helps clear the air between mother and daughter. Vreni is also happy to grant her mother’s wish to go on a flight with her brother, who is a flight instructor. The flight does all three of them good. Soon afterward, Hilde falls again. When Vreni helps her up, Hilde says she feels so cold. Vreni makes her a hot tea in the kitchen, her fear for her mother plain on her face. After Hilde takes a sip, she says it feels really good. At that very moment, the cup slips from her hand. She is dead. After the funeral, Verena decides to put her life in order. She turns down the position her boss offered her and sets off for Nashville.