Pension Schöller (1997)

Landowner Philipp Klapproth travels to the big city of Berlin, where he would like to see the inside of an insane asylum. One of his regulars at the local pub had told him about amusing parties supposedly held in such establishments, and Klapproth sees a business opportunity. He wants to find out what goes on there so he can set up a sanatorium on his estate in Kyritz. His nephew Alfred is supposed to help him. Alfred thinks it would be difficult to get past the locked doors of an insane asylum, so he comes up with the idea of using Pension Schöller, since its residents are rather eccentric. His uncle has promised him the start-up capital for his own café in return for his efforts, so Alfred does everything he can to grant his uncle’s wish. He finds an ally in Franziska Schöller, the business-minded daughter of the pension’s proprietor. While Alfred remains unsure whether the plan will work, his uncle is delighted to meet his first “lunatics.” The proprietor, Schöller, welcomes Philipp Klapproth, who immediately gets the impression that Schöller, as director, is also “a few sandwiches short of a picnic.” Next, the eccentric retired Major von Mühlen appears, treating everyone around him as though he were still in the military. Schöller, being a good host, always plays along with this performance, reinforcing Klapproth’s opinion of him. Another guest at the pension is the writer Josephine Zillerthal, who is constantly looking for new stories for her novels and seems to wander through life somewhat dreamily. In conversation, Klapproth pretends he has read all her novels. In return, Zillerthal wants to hear his life story so she can turn it into a novel. Klapproth therefore invents an outrageous biography, often contradicting himself in the process. Guest Fritz Bernhardy saves him from further embarrassment and draws him into conversation—or, more accurately, launches into a full-blown lecture about his travels and adventures around the world. Klapproth is thoroughly entertained and now also meets Schöller’s son Eugen, who is determined to become an actor but has a speech impediment. Since a traumatic experience, he has been unable to pronounce an “L,” saying an “N” instead. Klapproth considers Eugen’s acting exercises the crowning achievement of life in an insane asylum. Back home in Kyritz, Klapproth is suddenly confronted at his door by the globetrotter Bernhardy, and shortly afterward retired Major von Mühlen turns up too. Klapproth is alarmed and naturally thinks the men have escaped from Schöller’s mental asylum. He immediately sends Ludwig Schöller a telegram asking him to come and collect his inmates. Before long, Josephine Zillerthal and Eugen Schöller arrive as well. Klapproth locks the unwanted guests one by one in empty rooms, with only the wardrobe left for Eugen. When Ludwig Schöller arrives, Klapproth is relieved, but now has to hear that he is supposedly going to marry Schöller’s daughter. Franziska had confessed this to him, but neither of them realizes that she had Alfred, Klapproth’s nephew, in mind. Klapproth is now at the end of his own tether and relieved when the whole misunderstanding is cleared up. In the end, Klapproth’s sister, who runs her brother’s household, falls in love with Bernhardy, and Alfred is happy with his Franziska too. Even Eugen Schöller loses his speech impediment after a small fall.