Mobbing (2012)

Joachim Rühler, known as Jo, has been working for some time with his colleague and friend Markus to organize the city festival. They both work in the city’s cultural affairs department in Freising, which is about to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary. Jo is the father of two children, and his son Felix will soon be starting school. He is married to Anja and wants to commit himself to Freising for good: after renting for a long time, they both want to buy the house they live in. Like all his colleagues, Jo is already curious about the new boss, Dr. Elke Schulz, who will soon be starting work in the department. After only a few days working under Dr. Schulz, the colleagues are dismayed. One employee has to vacate his longtime office because it is the only room large enough for the boss’s big desk. A little later, Dr. Schulz removes the children’s choir from the city festival program and rearranges other events that strike her as provincial. For now, the colleagues stick together against their new boss and complain about her while barbecuing together or going to a restaurant. But soon the new boss begins deliberately isolating Jo and Markus. Jo receives a formal warning over a trivial matter, though it is more likely because he criticized her management style. Some time later, Dr. Schulz takes the city festival’s organization away from Jo and Markus and hands the plans they had developed to other colleagues, who carry out exactly what the two had planned. Felix is celebrating his sixth birthday when Jo comes home early. He is in a bad way: Markus has resigned, so now Jo has to “fight” alone. He feels dizzy, though the doctor who is a friend of his cannot find anything wrong with him. Nevertheless, Jo is signed off sick; he is lethargic, can barely get out of bed, and cannot sleep at night. Anja feels helpless. One day, Jo comes home from work seeming relieved: after 18 years working for the city administration, he has been dismissed without notice. The alleged reason is that he embezzled money, because he kept the proceeds from charity events, as he always had, in a cash box in his desk. Jo files a claim for protection against dismissal. Inactivity makes him depressed, and he feels increasingly worthless and becomes apathetic. Anja suffers under the situation and tries to return to her old work as a translator. A friend finds her a job translating a diet guide, which Jo can only mock. It weighs on him that his former colleagues openly take a stand against him ahead of the hearing. Even so, he puts all his hopes in the trial, ignoring his wife’s and son’s feelings. When Anja loses the translation job because the book has to be finished sooner, Jo even seems pleased. Anja responds sarcastically, saying that with her having been fired, the social balance in the family has been restored. In recent weeks, Jo and Markus, who now works in Düsseldorf, have fallen out. Anja secretly meets with Markus, who tells her that Jo applied for a job at his company and blames Markus for being turned down. They kiss as they leave the restaurant, but assure each other that they must not give up on Jo during this difficult time. Back at the apartment, Anja confronts Jo, who admits that he applied secretly because he wanted to manage it without Anja. Anja feels that he is blaming her for his failure. She tells Jo that she kissed Markus and should have slept with him. They get into a physical altercation, but end up sleeping together. A short time later, the trial takes place, and Jo wins. He is reinstated in the cultural affairs department. He goes to work every day and is already planning to buy the house, but Anja no longer wants to commit. She is surprised that he now has his own department and sits in his own office, even though there had always been a shortage of space. One day, she turns up unannounced at the city administration offices to see him. He has been given a room in a rented container on the grounds of the city administration, normally reserved for temporary agency workers. He spends his time there translating administrative regulations into French or from French—work nobody needs, which his boss throws away unread. Anja is horrified, but Jo has resigned himself to the situation, even as he keeps his composure. All that matters to him is that he can support his family on his salary. Dismayed, Anja leaves the administrative grounds with her children.