Unser Papa, das Genie (2002)

Professor Julius Stern, his wife Ulrike, and their two children, Lisa-Marie—usually called Sternchen—and Paul move into their new house in Berlin. That is, the family tries to move in while the professor once again cannot tear himself away from work and is absent when the moving van arrives at the door, so the door remains locked for the time being. Julius Stern is a passionate astrophysicist who enjoys international acclaim. He works in quantum physics and has developed studies aimed at improving the theory of relativity, earning the admiration of his Berlin institute director, Clemens Winkelmann. The “genius” often forgets everything else because of his work, but he is less adept at handling everyday life. The children are amused by their absent-minded father, but Ulrike Stern, who is also heavily tied up with work and often overburdened as a result, feels increasingly overwhelmed. Since her husband is no help with unpacking the moving boxes and setting up the house either, she gratefully accepts help from his brother Zacharias. When Ulrike, who works in the travel industry, is promoted at her new job, she asks Julius to pick up Sternchen from the train station after a school trip, just this once. Sure enough, he forgets the appointment because he has to investigate an incredible event in his laboratory. This time Ulrike draws the line and demands that Julius move out. With Paul’s confirmation ceremony just around the corner, Ulrike’s mother Charlotte comes to visit, so the Sterns pretend that everything is fine again while she is there. Ulrike is determined not to let her mother, who had always advised her against marrying Julius, say that she knew this would happen. Strange things happen in the Stern household, however: the red racing bike Charlotte had wanted to give her grandson for his confirmation disappears without a trace, after the family turtle had already turned up inexplicably in the professor’s laboratory. Before that, the professor’s glasses and his desk chair had taken off on their own. Stranger still, the roof tiles from their new home reappear somewhere else. Julius is certain that he has discovered the principle of teleportation, though he does not know exactly how. What is strange, though, is that only red objects can be teleported. Paul had painted a red circle on the turtle Anna’s shell so that she could be found more easily. When Julius discusses his theory with Clemens Winkelmann, Clemens remains skeptical, but is soon shown otherwise—and is as excited as a little boy. This also leads to Ulrike finding Diana, her husband’s assistant, in the bedroom and dismissing the explanations Julius tries to give her as nonsense. The professor has no choice but to prove it. He comes up with the idea of teleporting himself to Paris, where he plans to meet Ulrike at the airport while she is there for a work appointment. Then she will simply have to believe him. However, he does not arrive in the airport terminal but on the runway, and is immediately arrested. His phone, which plays an important role in the teleportation, is taken from him because the authorities suspect it is a bomb. “That would have been the Nobel Prize,” Stern mutters to himself when it is returned to him in pieces. At least he is allowed to leave once the suspicion proves unfounded. Ulrike manages to persuade her husband to spend the next three days in the City of Love. Back home in Berlin, Charlotte meanwhile moves in with her daughter, as she had hinted she would.