Mona & Marie - Eine etwas andere Weihnachtsgeschichte (2021)

The snobbish Düsseldorf lawyer’s wife, Mona Berthold, abhors Christmas. Nevertheless, this year she once again does her duty and hosts an opulent Christmas party at home for her husband Gregor’s friends and business associates. The party is already in full swing when the police unexpectedly arrive and tell Mona that Gregor has died of a heart attack. After the party breaks up, she discovers among his personal belongings photographs showing her husband in intimate poses with a young woman she does not know. Mona then suffers a nervous breakdown and is admitted to hospital after taking a life-threatening cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills. In desperation, her son Jonas contacts Mona’s estranged sister, Marie, an old hippie living on the North Sea coast, and asks her to check on his mother. Although the two women have not seen each other for 15 years, following an argument, Marie, plagued by guilt, decides to come. But when another scene erupts at the hospital, Jonas has to use all his powers of persuasion before Marie agrees to move in with Mona temporarily. When Mona is discharged the next day, she learns that Gregor made several bad investments before his death and that little of their shared property is left. To make matters worse, the bank demands that she vacate the home, which has already been sold, by New Year’s Eve. When her society friends turn their backs on her, the overwhelmed Mona realizes that—however reluctantly—she has to rely on her sister’s help. As Mona’s remaining possessions are sold off, the two very different women slowly find their way back to each other. But just when old wounds seem to have healed, Mona falls back into her old patterns of behavior and provokes another argument with Marie. When Marie leaves, Mona has a change of heart. She realizes that her son Jonas is not the successful businessman he pretends to be, and that over the years her condescending manner has wronged both her worried daughter Sophie and her kind caretaker, Ahmet. After making peace with Sophie and her wife, Karen, Mona decides to follow her sister to the North Sea. When she arrives, Marie initially responds coolly to Mona’s plans to invite herself to stay for the holidays. However, after her longtime partner Harald leaves her for a man and leaves her alone to take responsibility for their guesthouse, Marie, too, realizes that Mona would be equally helpful in running the inn, both as a former secretary and thanks to her connections. The sisters then make peace once more, and Marie asks Mona to stay. Together, they celebrate Christmas Eve with Jonas, Sophie, and Karen, who have travelled from Düsseldorf at Marie’s invitation, much to Mona’s surprise.