Wie gut ist deine Beziehung? (2019)

Steve and Carola are around forty. They have been a couple for five years and share their home and their bed. Both are established in their careers: he is a software developer, and she works at a small advertising agency. They seem happy together—Steve especially: “I want everything to stay just the way it is!” But the misery of his best friend and colleague Bob, who was left by Yvonne for Harald, a rather mature tantra teacher, unsettles their little world. On top of that, a young, seemingly inexperienced but self-assured outside consultant shows up at Steve’s IT company. She has been hired to test how vulnerable the otherwise flawlessly running company is to disruption. She succeeds in breaking into the software system because Steve has stuck his passwords somewhere easily accessible on his desk. As his colleagues laugh, Steve’s confidence is finally shaken. He wants to find out whether his relationship with Carola, whom he loves very much and which seems to be running perfectly, is truly resilient. The consultants’ strategy paper for the IT firm has given him the idea. Still acting on Bob’s request, he contacts the tantra teacher Harald and pays him to use on Carola the same technique he used on Bob’s girlfriend Yvonne: at a café, while Steve has briefly left the table, Harald offers Carola his phone number. Carola puts off taking it because she hopes Steve will come back and see how desirable she is. But Steve, who is watching everything, only sees that Carola talks to Harald for a long time and accepts the number. His worst fears have now come true. He decides to fight for Carola. In an effort to become a better man for her through self-improvement, he starts going to the gym, comes up with exhausting surprises for her, and keeps asking whether she is happy. Carola notices that this is no longer her Steve. She is worried, especially since her friend Anette, a committed single woman, diagnoses Steve’s behavior as a midlife crisis. There must surely be another woman behind it, she says. And given how neglected Carola’s appearance is, that would be no wonder. So Carola also tries to improve herself and dyes her hair, which makes Steve even more insecure. In the end, Steve’s attempt to test Carola’s resilience with Harald’s help is exposed. Outraged, Carola moves in with Anette. All of Steve’s attempts to win her back fail. Only when Steve lets Carola, who is also suffering badly from the separation, see into his soul and tells her how deeply insecure he has become do Steve and Carola get back together. They now tackle the changes they would like to make in their relationship together—for example, taking a tantra course with Harald. Bob also finds a new partner who is evidently a better match for him than Yvonne.