Scheidung für Anfänger (2019)

Interior designer Anja and civil engineer Christoph Bremermann want to divorce after 24 years of marriage. They hope to get through it as peacefully as possible, also for the sake of their two children. Their joint lawyer, Dr. Schirmer, is to handle the disclosure and division of their assets. But the Bremermanns have different ideas about what property each of them brought into the marriage and how much they contributed to increasing their wealth over the years they spent together. Anja had focused more on the household for the sake of the children and put her career on the back burner, while Christoph was very successful in his job. As a result, their disagreements over the inventory of their possessions lead to increasingly stressful conflicts. The situation becomes complicated when they try to tell their children about the impending divorce, but their daughter Franziska throws a wrench in the works by announcing her engagement. So they tell only their son Frederik. Over time, it becomes clear that Christoph will suffer a considerable financial loss from the divorce, so he has to find his own lawyer. However, Anja has already had initial meetings with the reputable law firms, which means they can no longer represent Christoph. Anja has also had photographs taken of Christoph meeting other women—for example, an old girlfriend he happened to run into again a few days earlier. Naturally, these circumstances improve Anja’s position. Christoph therefore decides to move out of their shared home for the time being. But a good friend turns him away, and he has no choice but to stay in a boarding house. Eventually, he manages to find a somewhat shady lawyer to represent him. The lawyer has a few good ideas, but immediately after the first meeting with everyone involved, he starts an affair with Anja’s lawyer. After another argument with Anja, during which her lawyer is injured, Christoph turns up outside their shared home with alcohol, a barbecue, and some residents from the boarding house, and throws a rowdy party of his own. Following the complaint that results, his boss takes him off his construction sites, and Christoph’s professional situation worsens considerably. When Anja has Christoph’s belongings collected by a charity, the two get into a scuffle, during which a freak chain of events causes a fire to break out in the kitchen. This incident makes them both reconsider, and they decide to scale back their respective demands. A little later, Franziska marries her fiancé, and Christoph gives a speech as the bride’s father. Anja tells him that what she particularly liked was the part where he spoke about new beginnings. The two of them head onto the dance floor together.