Good Bye Lenin! (2003)

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

Director:

Wolfgang Becker

Writers:

Bernd Lichtenberg, Wolfgang Becker (author),

Stars:

Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 32 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Daniel Brühl	...	Alexander 'Alex' Kerner
Katrin Saß	...	Christiane Kerner
Chulpan Khamatova	...	Lara
Maria Simon	...	Ariane Kerner
Florian Lukas	...	Denis Domaschke
Alexander Beyer	...	Rainer
Burghart Klaußner	...	Robert Kerner
Michael Gwisdek	...	Klapprath
Christine Schorn	...	Frau Schäfer
Jürgen Holtz	...	Herr Ganske
Jochen Stern	...	Herr Mehlert
Stefan Walz	...	Sigmund Jähn
Eberhard Kirchberg	...	Dr. Wagner
Hans-Uwe Bauer	...	Dr. Mewes
Nico Ledermueller	...	Alex - 11 Jahre (as Nico Ledermüller)

Storyline

East Germany, the year 1989: A young man protests against the regime. His mother watches the police arresting him and suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. Some months later, the GDR does not exist anymore and the mother awakes. Since she has to avoid every excitement, the son tries to set up the GDR again for her in their flat. But the world has changed a lot.

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Plot Keywords:

germany | coma | heart attack | east germany | police | 

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Taglines:

The German Democratic Republic lives on -- in 79 square meters!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for brief language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

German Cinema Archive Océan Films [fr]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Russian

Release Date:

13 February 2003 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Goodbye Lenin!

Filming Locations:

Studios Berlin, Adlershof, Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

€4,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$57,968 (USA) (27 February 2004)

Gross:

$4,063,859 (USA) (30 July 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

X-Filme Creative Pool, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), ARTE

Technical Specs

Runtime:

121 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Florian Lukas was originally cast as Alex. When director Wolfgang Becker chose Daniel Brühl for that role, he offered Lukas the role of Denis.

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Goofs

After Ariane finds the letters from her father hidden in the kitchen, she holds one on which Christiane's name is misspelled as Christine.

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Quotes

Alexander Kerner: All this stuff has to go. Are the old curtains in the cellar?
Ariane Kerner: You can't be serious.

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Crazy Credits

All i's, except the one in Lenin, are lower case.

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Connections

References Battleship Potemkin (1925)

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Soundtracks

"Summer 78"
by Yann Tiersen

User Reviews

Excellent film

I didn't have too many expectations for this film. My partner pitched it to me as a comedy, and I hadn't seen the trailer in a while so I went into thinking that's all it would be. Instead, it really was a sublimely sophisticated film.

I had the good fortune to see East Berlin first in July 1989 (there was *ZERO* hint that the wall would be down in 4 months) and then in February 1990. It was an amazing before and after, and I thought this film captured this very well. As a visitor to the East for several months that year, this film really brought back to me the East European Quiet Revolution when everything really did change.

The characters going through that change are of course an allegory for the changes all around them- '40 years gone! They sold us up river!' says an old man who represents those who 'lost' in the reunification contrasted to those who won-the youth. Similarly, the contrast of personal re-unification (the children and their father) vs that of the east and west is a wonderfully treated theme through the film…. And of course lies. Lies to comfort us, lies to deal with other lies. A very, very touching film.