O Palmenbaum (2000)

Vienna in December: After the turmoil of the previous year, Kati and Jonas have finally decided to escape the Christmas rush this year. They are also going to get married during their postponed holiday in Mauritius—romantically, without stress, and with no family members present. They tell Kati’s sister Luiserl about their plans over a meal, but naturally she is not pleased at the thought of missing her sister’s wedding. In the end, they agree to take her family along after all. But they must avoid letting the parents find out, at all costs. That very evening, however, Luiserl lets the secret slip to Jos’s mother (“Omama”), who immediately springs into action. At the airport, Jonas’s mother suddenly turns up to say goodbye; she dislikes Kati, and Jonas has failed to keep quiet. Then, while they are checking in, the mothers Lilibet and Omama also appear—not just to say goodbye, but to accompany the children to the wedding. As expected, the first arguments begin on the plane. On Mauritius, Lilibet takes charge and, against everyone else’s wishes, arranges a helicopter ride, the room assignments, the food, and the wedding couple’s outfits. While Jonas and Gregor take a diving course, she goes sightseeing with Sissi, which once again ends with the child falling off a chair drunk. Otherwise, the family stays at the resort and swims at the beach. During this time, Luise confides to her mother-in-law that she is pregnant again, despite her advanced age. Kati and Jonas’s wedding almost has to be called off because the groom comes down with chickenpox (German: “Schafblattern”). It now goes ahead in what seems to be intended as a gag, with her wearing a sari and him a turban, and without the excluded Lilibet and Omama, who celebrate Christmas alone beneath a palm tree. At the end of the film, Lilibet and Omama extend their stay “by a few weeks,” partly to make clear their displeasure at being excluded from the wedding.