Mermaids Don't Cry (2022)

Annika is a 37-year-old supermarket cashier from Vienna and an enthusiast of mermaiding. She dreams of owning an artificial silicone mermaid tail. Her father, Hermann, pretends to need care and to be confined to a wheelchair so he can claim care allowance, and suddenly turns up at her door to move in with her. Her best friend Karo’s two children are also constantly at Annika’s apartment. And Marc, an acquaintance from the indoor swimming pool, no longer wants to leave after a romantic night with her. When she is at risk of being fired from the supermarket, she tells her supervisor, Mrs. Biber, that she desperately needs the job so she can use her income to pay for her supposedly expensive father’s treatments—even though he is actually faking his condition. As a result, Mrs. Biber treats Annika more favorably than Karo, who works at the same store, and Annika is even named Employee of the Month. To raise the 2,458.90 euros she needs to buy the tail, Annika holds a flea market, among other things, and sells the old television. She eventually manages to raise the money, but her father uses it to buy a new, larger flat-screen TV so he can watch football matches with Marc. Annika then throws Marc and her father out of her apartment. In the meantime, the mermaid tail she had already ordered is delivered, but she cannot pay for it in full. Dr. Wolf, a doctor, gives Hermann a certificate confirming that he has a disability. At a party at Annika’s apartment, Karo and Marc grow closer and have sex. After catching them in the act, Annika goes to the supermarket in disguise and empties the donation box. When the supermarket is opened during the night with Karo’s key, Mrs. Biber fires Karo and also demands that she pay 1,000 euros for the money missing from the donation box. With the money from the donation box, Annika pays for the mermaid tail. She confesses to her supervisor that her father is only pretending to be ill and that she took the money from the donation box and will pay it back. Annika is then fired. She takes a bus to the sea. There, she first throws the silicone tail into the water and later into a rubbish bin. After that, she swims in the sea. During the credits, viewers learn that Marc and Karo got married. A producer discovers Marc, and he goes on to have a career as a musician. Karo opens her own beauty salon and becomes the mother of triplets. Hermann is placed in a retirement home, and Mrs. Biber enters a Tibetan monastery. Annika opens a snack bar. The tail is discovered by a garbage collector named Slatko, who then becomes a merman.