Schutzengel gesucht (2001)

It is Christmas, and Anna Blank is working, as she does every day, at the till of an airport snack bar. She takes no pleasure in her job, and the stories of passengers who are planning to spend the holidays far away depress her. Nor does the excitement of an elderly woman, who regularly flies off for a few days, cheer her up. At the door of her apartment building in the big city, two cheeky boys pelt her with a ball, as they always do; as always, she gives some spare change to the homeless man sleeping by the entrance; and in her empty apartment, she has no idea what to do with herself. She writes a list of things she wants to experience before New Year’s Eve, including watching Gone with the Wind and going to the opera. But she has given up on her great wish to fly to Nairobi one day, as her late mother did. In the end, she plans to take her own life on New Year’s Eve with pills she has already collected. To cross the first item off her list, she goes to the cinema on Christmas Eve to see Gone with the Wind. But the cinema is just closing because it is Christmas. Anna is not the only one left waiting in vain at the ticket window; Egon Schmidt, known as Eddi, is there too. They decide to go and get something to eat together and end up at Eddi’s regular pub, where the owner, Horst, reluctantly serves them a quick meal that they have to gobble down. Afterwards, they walk through the city streets together for a while. Eddi talks a lot and eventually gives Anna a shell. They agree to meet again the next day. Anna has told Eddi that she works at the airport snack bar, and he seeks her out there the next day. She invites him to Christmas dinner, saying a few friends will be coming too. In reality, she is expecting only Eddi, who is pleased with the meal even though Anna has burnt some of the food. A little later, while Anna washes the dishes, Eddi looks around the apartment and finds Anna’s list and her collection of pills. She wants to go to the opera with him and cross another item off her list, but he takes her to an arcade instead, where they compete against each other in a car-racing game. Eddi hesitates for a long time before letting her return to her apartment alone. Eddi has told Anna that he works as a bus driver. In reality, becoming a bus driver one day is his dream. He is unemployed, takes driving lessons that he occasionally skips, and is himself having great difficulty getting his life together. Because he keeps losing every job after a short time, his caseworker at the employment office has almost given up on him. Knowing that Anna intends to kill herself on New Year’s Eve, Eddi goes to see her on December 31. They go out together; he protects her at a strip club when a clown makes fun of her, then takes her to the bus depot. He shows her his favourite bus, which he knows from his driving lessons. Later, the two secretly take a bus out for a short drive, and Eddi confesses to Anna that he cannot tell left from right. Anna makes him a ring out of a piece of chewing-gum wrapper and slips it onto his right hand. With the mnemonic “right—ring,” Eddi can now remember which way is which. They return to the bus depot and kiss as the New Year begins. Eddi spends the night at Anna’s. She secretly throws away her pills and tears up the list. Now she is happy at work, and at last she manages to discipline the two boys who always pelt her with a ball. Eddi also seems to have some luck: at last he is allowed to take his bus-driving test. The test goes well until Eddi loses Anna’s chewing-gum-wrapper ring while driving. Not only is he now disoriented, but he also tries to find the piece of paper while the bus is moving. He nearly causes a serious accident and ultimately fails the test. He meets Anna at a laundromat but evades her questions about why he is so down. Still, he wants to come clean at last, so he takes her to his favourite bakery, where his illegitimate daughter Tina works. She does not know he is her father, as her mother has strictly forbidden any contact. Tina’s mother suddenly appears and threatens Eddi with the police. Eddi takes Anna home and breaks up with her, saying that a man who once hit his wife and has an illegitimate daughter is no good for her. When he leaves, Anna is distraught. She decides to change her life. The elderly woman at the airport, who has spoken to Anna several times about the power of guardian angels, is the first to help her: she persuades Anna to finally quit the job she hates at the snack-bar till. Instead, Anna applies for a job as a sales assistant at a department store and gets it. But she searches for Eddi in vain. His landlady tells her that he owes her money and has not been at the apartment for a long time. Horst tells her that Eddi has never worked as a bus driver. A boy at the laundromat, meanwhile, wants to help her. Since, as she says, she has lost something, he tells her she should simply go and get it back. Anna goes to the bus depot and finds Eddi asleep in one of the buses. He is now dependent on welfare, has no roof over his head, and tries to motivate himself with beer. In his eyes, Anna is too good for him, but she makes it clear that she owes her life to him and likes him just as he is. Once, he was her guardian angel; now she wants to be one for him. They embrace. A little later, Eddi has earned his bus-driving licence and is finally working in the profession of his dreams. He lives with Anna, who will soon be flying to Nairobi on her own. The two still cannot afford a ticket for both of them. Eddi drives her to the airport in his bus and watches her longingly. Shortly after the plane takes off, Anna appears at the bus. She has decided that she wants to make the trip properly with him—someday, when they can afford it. Together, they drive back into the city. A little later, the elderly woman from the airport and the boy from the laundromat talk. They both think they have fulfilled their task. Soon afterwards, the guardian angels vanish as if by magic.