Wilde Maus (2017)

Georg, 55, has for many years been a respected and feared music critic at a Vienna newspaper. His boss, Waller, fires him as part of cost-cutting measures. Georg does not tell his 43-year-old wife, Johanna. She desperately wants to have a child with him and is preoccupied mostly with her menstrual cycle. Apart from the sex required after ovulation, their love for each other has cooled; Georg usually treats her hurtfully and condescendingly. Johanna works as a behavioral therapist. One of her clients is Sebastian, an insecure gay vegan who exhibits some peculiar patterns of behavior and even briefly falls in love with her. During the day, Georg fills the emptiness in his life by helping his former schoolmate Erich, who is also unemployed and whom he has run into by chance, and Erich’s Romanian girlfriend, Nicoletta, renovate an old roller coaster called the Wilde Maus at the Prater and get it running again. Georg can talk with Nicoletta in Italian; Erich cannot, which is why she later leaves him. At night, Georg carries out several childish acts of revenge against Waller, vandalizing his car or property. Later, for reasons that are initially unclear, he gets hold of a firearm. Johanna is offered a job by Waller as a coach for his employees, and learns from him that Georg has been fired. When Georg finds out about Waller’s advances toward Johanna, he decides to murder him, goes to the address where Waller is vacationing, and threatens him. It is only here that the viewer learns that the unstable Sebastian and the self-assured Waller are a couple, but that they too are unable to communicate constructively. The assassination attempt is prevented because Georg cannot possibly shoot them both. He drives away and sits naked in the snow, intending to freeze to death, but two men spot him. He flees to his car, drives back to Vienna wearing only his underwear, and calls Johanna to ask her to bring him some clothes. She gets into his car and lets him tell her the whole story, while they block the road. The final scene suggests a reconciliation.