Song für Mia (2019)

Sebastian, in his mid-twenties and the only child of wealthy parents, shapes his life however he likes. Instead of pursuing serious career ambitions, he dreams of making it as a singer and works days at a fashion boutique. He spends his evenings with his friends Erik and Finn in Munich’s club scene, where the trio live it up with alcohol and women. One evening, music producer Jens Meinholdt happens to overhear Sebastian singing along in a restroom and offers him a record deal with his label. Sebastian finally sees his chance for a big breakthrough, but on his way home he walks headfirst into a construction sign and suddenly goes blind. At the hospital, the doctor treating him, Dr. Michels, diagnoses an aneurysm in Sebastian’s head that burst on impact and permanently damaged his optic nerve. In his predicament, he is forced to move in with his parents for the time being. They lovingly try to care for their son, but to no avail. He sinks deeper and deeper into depression and rejects every offer of support. His mother, Annelie, and father, Gabriel, eventually manage to hire Mia, a 24-year-old applicant, to look after him. The unconventional optimist is nothing like the women in Sebastian’s life so far, but after he initially rebuffs her, her zest for life succeeds in giving him a different perspective and a renewed will to live. The two grow closer on a trip to Tenerife. Mia, who is far from sharing his passion for English-language dance pop, encourages Sebastian for the first time to write a song that truly comes from the heart—and to write it in German. When he performs it for her, accompanying himself on guitar by a campfire, Mia films him and secretly uploads the video to an online video platform. There, “the sweetest blind guy ever” quickly becomes a viral hit. Back home, Sebastian learns from his parents that an operation could restore his sight. He opts for the complicated procedure and regains his vision a short time later. Mia, afraid that she will not match his ideal in terms of appearance, continues trying to build a relationship with him after her employment ends. But Sebastian, eager to pick up his old life again straight away, realizes that they now have little in common and pulls away. Meanwhile, Meinholdt offers to get his music career moving again. But when Sebastian, under his stage name “Sebbe,” is about to perform his first single at a showcase, his vision problems return and he has to stop the performance. A short time later, he learns that the operation can only preserve his sight temporarily and that he will go blind again before long. When he contacts Mia, she tells him that she is about to set off on the road trip across the US she has been planning for a long time, and cannot accept his invitation to attend his next performance. On impulse, he plucks up the courage and goes to her apartment to pick her up for his gig. There, instead of the single he had originally planned, he performs the “Song for Mia” they wrote together, before the two of them travel overseas together.