Tonio & Julia - Wenn einer geht (2019)

Tonio and Julia are now continuing to work together after all at the counseling center of the Catholic parish of St. Sixtus. The Bittl couple seek family counseling because their lawyer had insisted that they do so. They want to divorce after 30 years of marriage, but Tonio wants to help them find ways to continue their marriage, which is a sacrament in the Catholic Church. Since Sebastian Bittl rejects this and wants a divorce no matter what, Tonio asks Julia to join them, as she has a little more room to maneuver than he does as a Catholic priest. At their very first session, Julia notices that the Bittls care about each other more than they think. She finds many things they have in common and encourages them to talk more about their feelings. What connects them most is their children, who have now all left home; Anna had become depressed about this. Her husband, meanwhile, had not noticed and thought his wife was no longer interested in him, so he had been entertaining himself with women online in a virtual setting. Anna has now found out, and she is so furious that Julia can hardly think of anything to say to help them reconcile. But in the end she succeeds, and the two make peace. When Tonio is invited to dinner at Julia’s parents’ house, he learns that Monika and Xaver Schindel are also having problems with each other. Xaver feels that his wife does not really appreciate him. He thinks she cares more about her balance sheets than about him. On the other hand, Xaver puts his wife off with his bad temper. Their son Max suggests that his mother simply go into town, buy something new, and surprise Xaver with it. But the surprise is hers when she sees her husband in a café with another woman. Convinced that Xaver is cheating on her, she asks Julia to confront her father. Tonio does that for her, however, and learns that Xaver believes he is terminally ill and wants to deal with it alone so as not to burden the family. That is why he had met with his insurance agent to clarify the details of his life insurance policy. But Tonio will not let him do that and persuades Xaver to see a doctor. Afterward, Julia’s parents talk things through, and everything is right with the world again for them. But the world falls apart for the family of Julia’s friend Melli when Melli, heavily pregnant, collapses and is taken to the emergency department with suspected amniotic fluid embolism. Although her baby pulls through, Melli dies. Thorsten Kleinschmidt is left behind as a single father with four children. Julia wants to support him, but she is so emotionally shaken that she really needs help herself. Tonio, too, finds it difficult to lead the memorial service.