Tollpension (2006)

Summer is here—holiday time. As they do every year, the Mahlström family heads to the Baltic Sea. This year, however, everything is different. Kurt is on the verge of losing his job, though his wife, Marga, doesn’t know it. Their teenage daughter Kati would rather have gone to southern France, and above all, without her parents. To make matters worse, the familiar, cozy guesthouse has a new owner and is now called the “Tollpension,” and someone else has booked the room with the sea view. The sight of a group of young people with disabilities ruins Kurt’s breakfast, so the holiday spirit is already gone by morning. Kurt is irritated by everything and finds comfort only with Fiete, the owner of a snack stand. His wife, Marga, also turns away from the grumpy philistine Kurt and is courted by the attractive Pastor Müller, who is putting together a choir as a leisure activity, made up mainly of the female holidaymakers. Kurt’s bad temper worsens further because he is jealous of Pastor Müller. Meanwhile, their daughter Kati falls in love with Dominik, a young man doing civilian service, who neglects the group of kids with disabilities because of his meetings with Kati. When Kurt tries to keep Rolph, one of the guests with a disability, at arm’s length with a joke, he unintentionally becomes the hero of the holiday resort by rescuing the young man with Down syndrome from almost drowning. When Marga realizes that Pastor Müller is turning his attentions elsewhere and is already courting a pretty new tourist, her husband—now a newly minted hero—looks like a good catch again. Kurt basks in his fame. But when his daughter Kati discovers that Kurt was actually responsible for Rolph being put in danger in the first place, the family problems reach their peak. Only when Kurt apologizes to Rolph and finally tells his wife about his problems at work and his financial troubles does the holiday become a family-bonding experience after all.