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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

Die DDR lebt weiter -- auf 79 qm!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

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

The story is loosely based on the last two years of V.I. Lenin's life, living in a controlled environment similar to what is portrayed in the film. With the justification that over-excitement might cause Lenin health problems, Joseph Stalin had printed for him one-copy edition newspapers, censored of all news about the political struggles of the time.

---

Goofs

Alex puts the contents of a pack of Jacobs coffee into GDR packaging, but the logo on the Western coffee package is the one that was launched in the late '90s.

---

Quotes

Ariane Kerner: You were in a coma. Eight months ago.
Christiane Kerner: Eight months? What happened?
Ariane Kerner: Yeah, it was...
Alexander Kerner: It was in October, in the supermarket. There was this enormous queue and it was really hot and you just passed out.
Christiane Kerner: In October?
Alexander Kerner: It was a really hot October. At the time.

---

Crazy Credits

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

---

Connections

References Der schwarze Kanal (1960)

---

Soundtracks

"Summer 78"
by Yann Tiersen

User Reviews

Refreshing

This was a good film, and I think it needed to be made. A way of life disappeared in Europe, perhaps forever, and it seems appropriate that the fall of Communism has thus been documented.

The basic premise of "Goodbye Lenin" is that the young man's mother is in a coma over the months when the Berlin Wall is coming down. She wakes up (oblivious) in united Germany, but as she is so fragile she cannot be allowed to know that everything she held dear has collapsed. What ensues is a comic and moving scenario - her son does his best to pretend that nothing has changed.

Yes, the movie is a little drawn-out. And most of the comedy is lost on non-Germans, or those unaware of the political climate in the region. However, there are clear universal issues to be considered; idealism, hope, family. There is one particular scene which I thought encompassed exactly how the main protagonist feels - he is at a bank trying to change his mother's old East German currency into Deutschmarks but the deadline has passed. He becomes aggravated by the sheep-like behaviour of his peers. After all, this is their culture being crushed by McCapitalism, but their individual vaunting ambition blinds them from doing something about it. Very refreshing to see this on the big screen.

All in all, "Goodbye Lenin" is a nicely-rounded statement of where the European film industry is heading, and it will appeal to most independent-minded people on both an artistic and political level. 8/10.