Zweibettzimmer (2017)

Konstanze is a senior physician in the cardiology department of a Berlin hospital and the mother of two children. Her marriage to her husband, Philipp, is currently ending in divorce because he cheated on her after 14 years of marriage with their Swedish au pair. Their children, Lotte and Malte, know nothing about it. They see their father as the one who lets them get away with a lot, while Konstanze takes meticulous care of everything and organizes her children’s lives down to the last detail, from essential schoolwork to ballet classes and orthodontic treatment. But now Konstanze suffers a complicated leg fracture in a fall down the stairs and is forced to go to rehab. Philipp takes care of the children during this time, which does not sit well with Konstanze. When she arrives at the rehab clinic, she gets an unpleasant surprise. Because of a software error in the computer program, she does not get a single room and has to share a double room with the younger Jackie, who is at the clinic because of back problems. The two have met briefly before: a few days earlier, Konstanze encountered Jackie during an argument, when Jackie’s daughter refused to cross the street and held Konstanze up on her drive to work. Jackie is completely different by nature from Konstanze. She has three children by three different fathers, works several mini-jobs, wears brightly painted fingernails, and is known for her sharp tongue. Naturally, this leads to friction, but gradually the two women find a connection. The situation with her two children worries Konstanze more. Spoiled by their father’s newfound leniency, Lotte tells her on the phone that she would rather move in with him, since mother and daughter only get on each other’s nerves anyway. Konstanze begins to cry at night, and Jackie comforts her with a bottle of prosecco. The next morning, the women decide to have breakfast out and spend a few hours in town. Jackie paints Konstanze’s fingernails, and the two women also enjoy a joint before singing songs at a piano in a church that night and enjoying their time together. Konstanze wants to return the favor by searching online for a place where Jackie can take a cosmetics course. Jackie is angry about this because she thinks Konstanze is interfering in everything. Now that a single room becomes available, Konstanze can move out, and the two can avoid each other. One evening, the two women save the life of another patient: Jackie uses her resuscitation skills, while Konstanze, whom Jackie has called over, gives the patient an adrenaline injection. This brings the women together again. Lotte shows up at the clinic; she has read an email from the Swedish au pair to her father and wants to go back to her mother. Konstanze tells Lotte that she is very happy with her two children, even if they do not take ballet or are held back at school. The next day, as the two women sit in the clinic garden, Jackie confesses to Konstanze that she cannot read or write.