Carla has "quit" her children as a mother. They are outraged and horrified. From left: Rita (Ulrike C. Tscharre), Doro (Jordis Triebel), Carla (Maren Kroymann) and Phillipp (Stefan Konarske).
© ZDF / W&B Television / Frederic Batier
Carla quits. And what she throws down is not little: 250.000 for each of her three children who have long since grown up. Carla doesn't like to be the obligatory one for the children anymore. Maren Kroymann plays the lead role in the amusing ZDF family comedy "Mother Quits.
Carla's rage speech could be any Trapattoni ("I have finished!") to the credit. "Sit everything down!" she commands her three children, invited from afar, who don't know what's happening to them. If the mother is sick, she will soon die? Carla sold the house of the deceased family patron without asking the dear little children. "She has pulled my youth out from under me", will later tell Doro, the older daughter. The ZDF comedy "Mother quits" (Director: Rainer Kaufmann "Stadtgesprach") is above all a great solo for Maren Kroymann, an emancipation comedy between life confession, rock 'n roll and gender profundity.
"You can leave the church or take your own life. Why not quit as a mother?" she claims in the film and asks her descendants to leave the house, which has been sold anyway, within 24 hours after her termination of the contract. The proof that Carla is in the right is provided in a flashback: At the birthday party, the children not only make a huge mistake with their unimaginative gifts, but they also treat the mother as if she were not even in the room. Doro (Jordis Triebel), Rita (Ulrike C. Tscharre) and Phillipp (Stefan Konarske) are playing Monopoly, ignoring their mother.
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An ex-husband who gives nightmares
Worse still, however, are the nightmares that her ex-husband, who has since passed away, gives her. Paul (Ulrich Tukur "as a guest") was the director of the local theater and famous beyond. Women's hearts flew to him, especially those of the dependent ladies. Phillipp, whom Stefan Konarske turns into a maudlin psychopath, had directed hatred towards the Intendant's father, which Carla never dared to express. On the other hand, he hides his girlfriend from the family in the hotel, after all his "best broker" – it is supposed to help him order a few hedge funds on Wall Street just before closing time.
The fact that daughter Doro, a yoga instructor, has still not introduced Hanna, her wife (Britta Hammelstein), to the family becomes an ongoing theme in the play. Her daughter Joe (Lena Urzendowsky), Carla's granddaughter, is the treasure of the family and temporarily forms a sworn community with Carla. Some things repeat themselves. Not only that the Intendantenfamilie with artful dog, cock and cat masks asks again and again to the carnival of the animals – it is also often sung in this television play. Canon in the family circle, in the duet of Carla and her lover Rudi (Rainer Bock) in an empty night cabaret.
Rudi is not only Carla's in-house lawyer, who has drawn up the "dissolution agreement" formulated, but also Variete-Transvestit. He gives one of the not a few speeches that is about being different and same sex. Yes – he once slept with Carla, and it may not be certain whether Carla's daughter Rita is a fruit of this love or Paul's daughter after all.
Jules and Jim
Here, the mother drama abruptly becomes a Jules-and-Jim love triangle: Paul and Rudi both once loved Carla, which is why Rudi, who was always considered a gay housemate by the children, speaks of a "very intimate, deep connection talks to Carla. Opportunity for Rudi, once again the matter with the unfortunately usual "black and white" and explain all kinds of cliches between the sexes. Rudi's word for Sunday in private. And if they didn't die, they are still alive today, all the gay and lesbian family members, who are in the middle of the currently rampant queer discussion with this chaos comedy.
Overall, this somewhat different family comedy lacks lightness. Too many Sunday sermons and self-reflections have gone into the script of Freya Stewart and Gabriela Sperl (also producer here). They press the fun button, which is why the spark doesn't really want to jump over. In the end, the yoga daughter Doro wants to sell her parents' house because of her "pulled out from underneath" Setting youth on fire. Mother Carla and her Rudi, meanwhile, sing of their happiness once again: "Love is alive, and so we begin" blare the after 90 minutes finally freed from the family appendage.