Pfau - Bin ich echt? (2024)

Matthias works for a rent-a-friend agency, where people can hire friends for all kinds of purposes—for example, as a cultured partner to impress their circle of friends, as the perfect son to influence business associates, or as someone to practice an argument with. Like an actor, Matthias takes on whatever role his clients want. As confident as he is at work, he feels just as lost in his private life. He is no longer able to feel genuine emotions and sets out on a search for himself. Nevertheless—or perhaps because of that—his girlfriend breaks up with him. Matthias rents a dog, which drowns in his pool shortly afterward. A conversation with a client leads her to leave her husband. The husband then pursues Matthias, whom he blames for the breakup. Matthias begins to have doubts about his job. He is also no longer sure whether the people in his private life are merely acting, which unsettles him. For a regular client, Matthias plays the model son. The 60th-birthday celebration has been planned for a long time, and Matthias carries out the assignment reluctantly. At first, everything goes as planned. But Matthias can no longer stand the lies, so he returns to the party naked, covered only in mud. After a brief moment of bewilderment, one guest calls it performance art, and everyone applauds Matthias. He then escapes through a window, jumps into a lake, and swims away.