Schlussmacher (2013)

Paul Voigt works for a breakup agency. He is on the verge of completing his 1,000th breakup and thereby being promoted to partner in the company. But when he delivers the news of the breakup to his next client, Thorsten “Toto” Kuhlmann, Toto’s world falls apart. Toto not only has to move out of his girlfriend Kathi’s apartment immediately, but is also no longer supposed to play a role in the life of her daughter, whom he has helped raise. He takes this very much to heart and refuses to accept it so easily. So he decides to fight for their love. Paul has to bring him to his senses, since that is part of his job too. He takes the now homeless Toto home with him for the time being. But this takes Paul’s own life in a dramatic new direction: he can’t get rid of Toto, and inadvertently causes his own girlfriend to break up with him. Since Toto makes several attempts to take his own life, Paul can’t simply shirk responsibility for another person’s life. He even allows Toto, albeit reluctantly, to act as his personal chauffeur. In this way, Toto sees the inventiveness with which Paul deals with his clients. A young woman, for example, had been unable to tell her boyfriend that she was actually in love with someone else. So the wedding had not been called off, and Paul now shows up at the church on the wedding day, pretending to be an old friend who tearfully explains that he cannot live without the bride. She has no choice but to leave the groom standing at the altar and hurry out of the church with Paul, where she quickly drives off with her new boyfriend. At his next appointment, however, Toto gets in his way. During a consultation with a potential client, Toto gives the young woman advice on how she can save her relationship. This means Paul loses a “closure,” and his goal of becoming a partner in the agency recedes into the distant future. Paul’s next assignment is a little tricky. The client, Günter Schmitz, wants to get rid of his wife, Gabriela, who would cost him too much in a regular divorce under their marriage contract. The breakup agency is therefore supposed to “prove her infidelity.” The plan is for a gigolo to seduce her while Paul films and confirms the whole thing as a witness. Unfortunately, the man has got the location wrong: he is in Frankfurt an der Oder, but he should have been in Frankfurt am Main. To stop this assignment from falling through as well, Paul has to act. However, his target seems impossible to seduce. This is where Toto comes to his aid: thanks to his “dancing skills,” he manages to save the assignment. But it takes a great deal of personal effort, and the outcome is different from what they expected, because their target sees through the scheme and turns into a fury. During the ensuing chase, she meets the “man of her life” and leaves the two of them alone. After working together with Toto for days, Paul is close to his 1,000th completed breakup. While Toto waits by the car as usual, Paul has to deliver the news of a breakup to a young woman. She lives with her parents, and this time Paul has to flee from her father. The man shoots at him with a rifle, but with Toto’s help, Paul escapes unharmed. Paul now essentially owes Toto his life, and a friendship gradually develops between them. Sometimes Paul begins to have doubts about his work, especially when he sees how Toto can encourage people and help them save their relationships. Toto had also long realized how much Paul was suffering over his own breakup, even though Paul refused to admit it. Toto is trying to open Paul’s eyes and make him see that he should not give up on his girlfriend Natalie just yet. In return, Paul tells his friend that Kathi wasn’t as serious about the breakup as he had made it sound. She had even called Paul to ask how Toto had taken the breakup. Toto becomes so angry about this that he wrecks Paul’s company car. Toto is badly injured, taken to the hospital, and falls into a coma. Paul wants to quickly complete his 1,000th assignment, but this time he can’t bring himself to present the young mother of three with a fait accompli. He even quits the breakup agency “Happy End.” When Toto wakes from the coma, Paul is sitting by his bed with a surprise for his friend: he has brought Kathi and her little Jenny to see him. Paul himself hurries to Natalie and finds his way back to his true love.