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:

coma | germany | 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 [France]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English Russian

Release Date:

13 February 2003 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Zbogom Lenjinu

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

Sigmund Jähn gave permission to be featured in the movie, but refused to play himself. It was very difficult to find an actor who looked like Jähn and spoke his typical dialect but after filming had begun, Wolfgang Becker chose Swiss actor Stefan Walz. He was given complex make-up and was dubbed by another actor who came from Jähn's home region, the Vogtland.

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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.

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Quotes

Dr. Wagner: You must protect her from any kind of excitement. And I do mean any kind, Mr. Kerner.
Alexander Kerner: Any kind of excitement.
Dr. Wagner: It would be life-threatening.
Alexander Kerner: And this here?
[Shows the doctor a newspaper reading "Good Luck, Germany. Yes to Reunification"]
Alexander Kerner: Wouldn't you call this exciting?

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Crazy Credits

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

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Connections

Referenced in Ancient Evil 2: Guardian of the Underworld (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Summer 78"
by Yann Tiersen

User Reviews

Small but perfectly formed

Last night I watched it for the second time. I'd seen it at the cinema two years ago, then last night my boyfriend, who hadn't seen it, decided to rent it. I loved it first time round, I loved it second time round, maybe even a tad more than I did originally. With wonderfully engaging characters all round, the film is endowed with a great sense of humour, both visual and verbal (and those Europhobic old Brits keep going on about how the Germans have no sense of humour!), it's socially relevant yet easier to watch than a straight comedy. The script is intelligent yet accessible to anyone, even a shallow teenager with no attention span whatsoever... yet IT is never shallow. And most of all, it's a deeply moving little gem of a film which however never abuses its secure grip on the heart-strings. I could see even my boyfriend was dewy-eyed at some points! And so was I, even more than two years ago. A small but perfectly formed film, it's actually not as small as one might think at first impact. Love (specifically, filial love) is its main theme, treated in a schmaltz-free, fresh, non-superficial and a non-clichéd manner.