Neun Szenen (2006)

The story is divided into nine scenes and begins at Magdalena and Rudi’s graduation celebration. Rudi is in love with Magdalena. Nineteen-year-old Magdalena has to wash glasses at her father’s restaurant while Rudi stands at the bar with her boyfriend, Julian. But the very next morning, a chain of events begins that changes everything. When their car breaks down, Rudi realizes that his father is not as self-assured as he makes himself out to be, and that his kind-hearted grandfather has a dark side. Magdalena notices a black eye on her mother and suspects that her father did it to her. Her mother, in turn, claims that a jar of pickles fell on her face. Twenty-five-year-old Julian sits by a lake with his mother and Magdalena and sees no need to choose between them. To mark the third anniversary of the relationship, Julian’s mother gives Magdalena a pendant that she herself received as a gift 30 years earlier. At the wedding reception for Julian’s father and his new partner, the partner asks whether one should even say “I do” at the altar, setting off a discussion among the wedding guests, in which Magdalena also takes part. Rudi’s mother reminisces and shortly afterward collapses, and Rudi realizes that his childhood home has ceased to exist. He decides to confess his love to Magdalena, but when he gets to her door, he hears that she is breaking up with Julian. In the end, he manages to leave her a message on her voicemail. Overwhelmed by events, Magdalena runs into a park, with Rudi following her. As she crosses the park, she first encounters Rudi’s grandfather, then Rudi’s father with his new partner, her own mother, Julian’s mother, Julian’s father with his wife, Rudi’s mother with her new partner, and finally Julian, before she gets on a bus. In the final scene, Magdalena argues with her father about his behavior. During the argument, her father strikes a tabletop, causing a jar of pickles to fall from a cupboard and knock him unconscious. Shortly afterward, Rudi arrives and believes that Magdalena has beaten her father to death. He calls emergency medical services and lets Magdalena persuade him to pose as a witness.