User reviews

Initially I didn't know what to make of this movie and while billed as a comedy, there really isn't much that I found laugh out load funny about it until the last third of the movie. There are lots of awkward moments, that some could find funny, but others will not like them.

Most will find this very depressing and will turn it off after the first 60 minutes or so, I nearly did, but thankfully I kept watching and really enjoyed the last third of the movie.

As a father I can speak from experience when I say fathers will do anything to make their children happy and this shows through in this movie. I felt the father's whole misguided aim was to connect with his daughter and try to cheer her up. He can see she is very unhappy with her life. He fails most of the time, but continues to try throughout the movie with sometimes interesting and funny results.

Overall I found this quite a deep, thoughtful and very German movie. Watch lots of German movies and you will know what I mean.

I would be very hesitant to watch it twice.

The film is (partly) about the fact that the globalisation of production does not go hand in hand with the globalisation of (real) culture, and therefore people lose a part of their "humanness", and get a strange substitute for it, the so-called "corporate culture". This problem affects all of us and most of us must have encountered similar situations or feelings as the persons in the film, that is why imho it resonates with so many people. It is especially meaningful coming from a nation, which in the past produced the greatest artists and thinkers (and not only the dark years), and which by all its peculiar characteristics and abilities would be meant to oppose the above trend. Sorry if my English is a bit strange.

I love films , so I had to go watch one of the most talked about films of 2016 with all this fuss and awards going on about it.

As other IMDBers have already mentioned, the expectations were high enough , and I sort of demanded a good film. I cannot say I got that.

The story (which isn't really a story) roughly, is about a woman whose job is basically firing people off of other companies --- and her father who is bizarrely present and around her throughout most of the film , making awkward but somewhat distant jokes , supposedly to help her have a better life.

Toni Erdmann is a bizarre film for sure. Nothing wrong with that, just stating a fact. It's a film that shows us instead of telling us things. Which is respectful, elegant and admirable in a way and that's a plus for Maren Ade.

There are admirable things in Toni Erdmann , but for me there are also big flaws that reduced the overall viewing experience.

The fatal flaw to name, is the starkness and the extreme cold atmosphere of this film and all its characters. For me a film must offer entertainment , in the broad sense. Meaning that a film has to give us a variety of good things that'll "warm us". Good soundtrack , interesting and empathizing characters , a good atmosphere and locations , and of course a solid story that'll surround us and in the end win us with its charm so we'll want to re watch the film after it starts to rust in our memory.

I don't want to watch Toni Erdmann again. There was no charm that won me and so just one preview is enough. I didn't connect with the characters much , not that I don't have common things ,most of us get modern life's problems , and we have common issues with fiction characters who aren't too happy with their life. Its a safe bet. But this doesn't mean you connect with the characters as well.

Toni Erdmann felt very much like you are inside a fridge, sitting in there and viewing stuff in a cold environment. Too cold. Also it runs too long at 2 hours and 40 minutes for the particular story told. For the kind of praise it got , I expected better characters , better dialogues and in the whole a better picture.

The direction in its practical sense of camera placement and movement was mediocre and so was the photography which was pretty basic so don't expect "good pictures".

The admirable things about it, was the good acting, mostly by the father "Toni" but the daughter was modestly good as well in her role. The originality of the film's approach to the father-daughter relationship was another good thing. And lastly the film's themes and questions/problems addressed by the director/scriptwriter Maren Ade. The story had meaning behind it sure, but it was too elegant about those themes (the corporate world vs human values and what matters for modern man vs what should really matter.) These are honorable themes and Maren Ade seems like a decent person to explore and show us a few troubling things in the hope to awaken us, but as a film it was mediocre. Of course that's just my opinion, but I have to say there are some rules in Film making , and mrs Ade neglected a few of them.

6/10

Toni Erdmann starts slow and is in general a movie that takes its time. 162 minutes might suggest an overlong or very slow paced film, but in this 162 minutes we get a firework-like examination of a relationship between a father and a daughter. And yes, Toni Erdmann is a comedy. There are some moments that are so hilarious, that they gained applause mid film from the audience at my screening. But it is also a tragedy. A really complex one actually. There is so much loneliness in those characters, so much longing. Toni Erdmann is constantly entertaining, extremely well acted and emotionally compelling. A masterpiece of German cinema.

I liked this movie a lot. I met "these" people over the last 25 years in Bucharest and in Germany.

In this "new global world", the most of the time everybody is so deep into the details of "knowing how to be" because everybody is already like this, that if you take a step back and watch from a different angle you might wonder if anyone still remembers what it is to be a human. To remember the pleasure of feeling secure and loved by the ones that are guaranteed to be the ones that will do so. And finally if you get the right angle, you have to admit that everyone around you looks ridiculously, trying to find the detail in the detail that would make a difference, even if everybody does everything identically and there is obviously nothing else. The game about being a tough global business-woman/man, up to the most disgusting proofs to be the tougher one, is finally just flat and meaningless.

The whole story is wonderful true. The actors are doing a fantastic job making you feel the frustration and discomfort that should be seen and felt by everyone living in such a world. It is not a slow movie ... it is the shortest version of an never-ending slow life with nothing that would make your heart pound for the true meanings.

This movie brought two points to my mind. Einstein defined madness: - Trying the same thing again and again while expecting a different outcome. - Google was build on the simple idea that everybody is searching for something that everybody is already mentioning... Try to type "Apple" in the Google search field

There's just something really magical about this film. I had heard so much praise bestowed upon it but had never really read anything about its premise or plot. I found it to be a very lovely, touching, and brilliant drama, although it also functions as a comedy in more ways than one. I think the real gift of the film is that it's able to be so touching and charming without actually trying to be overly cute and sentimental. The screenplay does so many things and takes so many turns for us to keep on going on this ride with the lead characters. Peter Simonischek and especially Sandra Huller are really fantastic and give us here one of the best pairings of 2016. This is a film to cherish and adore and I really hope it finds an audience. I'm sure it will and I can't wait to see it again.

But it is hard going. Ultimately I'm glad I stayed with it but it tests your patience to the limit at times. It's not a 1 rating like some reviewers are saying. But it's certainly not a 10 either. It's far too long to enable it to get anywhere that kind of rating. There seems to be so many meaningless scenes that could have been trimmed. There are certain moments that for me were laugh out loud. Ines played by Sandra Huller is fantastic. It's made me want to see more of her work. Talk of an Hollywood remake on here. I can only assume it will be a very very different film. There is no way ever a scene for scene remake would make it out of Hollywood. Give the original a go first, it's different!!

This is a great movie - but most likely not for everyone. It's about academic upper middle-class people and their family relationships. Not everybody will find that interesting and there is no usual "romantic" plot development. It's a family portrait of a father and her daughter and as such has no (plot) conclusion. It is not the usual light comedy since it touches very serious questions and the prevailing mood is unhappiness (it is however _very_ funny at times ;-)).

That being said, this movie makes some very fine and subtle observations, presents them in a funny and entertaining form yet at the same time in a thought-provoking and philosophical way which will make you think about it for a long time. If you're from an academic (german) household you will find lots of similarities in your own family relations.

This movie is not fast-paced - in fact it often has long shots of lonely people and a lot is not said but has to be filled in by the viewer. So if you don't relate to the characters this movie will feel longish for sure. But if you find traces of your own life or that of your friends and relatives you'll be amazed by the subtlety and finesse in which this movie is directed. Although there are some bizarre events, everything which happens in this movie could happen in real life. There are no implausible scenes in this movie! This is an incredible statement given the crazy and bizarre things which happen in this movie. If you wanna know how that could be true, you might wanna watch it.

Maybe I have read to many positive reviews about Toni Erdmann (btw. "Toni Erdmann" would be a wonderful brand name for fashion products like sun glasses). And my expectations went too high. Because, the movie does not fulfill the highest praise written by all of the professional reviewers. This is a low emotion movie. I guess, it depends mainly on the viewer, how involved he/she will get. Simonischek as father and Hüller as daughter play wonderful, giving the characters an authentic drive. Somehow Hüller's acting calls to mind the well tempered acting of Jodie Foster! In the movie the daughter is captured in the slippery profession of a top management consultant in East Europe. After the death of his old dog her father visits her for several weeks and tries to give her back some real life by making himself a fool to show all other are fools, too. His trick works out quite successful and shows surprisingly believable that individuals got much wider possibilities to act in real life to change the world, as they do in daily life by just following their little cushy habits instead. Just go for this movie. It is entertaining and it will give you some hints what is going wrong in/with your life. (and will go on wrong in future...).

This movie is one if this rare occasions that gives you the sensation you saw something very special today. It has some kind of unique comedy status like Monty Python or Bill Murray. If you think about a serious Monty Python or a more hilarious Broken Flowers you might come close to this movie.

The main theme is loneliness. A father realizes that his daughter is not happy even though she has a great career and pretends to be fine. So he tries to bring joy back in her life.

The acting is brilliant both Toni and Ines are as authentic as possible. Some scenes were so funny that i basically cried tears of joy. Especially the nude party is so ridiculous ... its actually one of best scenes i ever saw in cinema.

This is a great and very unique movie and i want to thank Maren Ade for this piece of art. Imho the best German comedy ever made. 10/10

My expectations were high. This film came away from Cannes with that rare combination of rave reviews from both audiences and critics. The title popped up on many 'must see' lists so I was thrilled to get a ticket to the Canadian premier, a screening on TIFF's opening night and at my favourite venue. The stars were aligned… but alas, for me this film failed on so many levels.

Part of the problem was that the movie opened up with a sensational scene. Our introduction to the main character, a brusque, elderly white-haired father (Peter Simonischek) is riotous and delightful. Within the first 5 minutes we 'get' who this wonderful personality is.

However, it only sporadically hits that soaring comedic note again. With the bar set that high there's an expectation to deliver. It didn't. At an excruciatingly long 2 hrs 42 min (almost 3 hours!) this film needed a serious edit and revamp. Wasting this film's tremendous potential left me feeling sad. And checking my watch. Not what you want with a comedy.

You know those hand-held contraptions used to gauge audience reaction at a political debate? On my subway ride home I imagined its outcome at tonight's screening. Sure there'd be a few off-the-chart moments, but for the most part this movie would flat-line.

• Yawning gaps between lingering scenes. - Vague characters who did little to serve the movie. - Secondary plot lines that meandered off like loose threads you wanted to snip away. - Expectation of a scene's culmination to share heart and wisdom… so close you could taste it… but then to watch it slip away into a growing muddle.

It's sad to see a movie with so much lost potential. In different hands... a director with tighter control, a more 'lean and mean' editor, a scriptwriter with a more focused bottom line… such 'coulda-woulda-shoulda' possibilities. Sigh.

I don't think I've ever entertained this thought before, but here's a foreign film that could use a Hollywood makeover. Ouch!

MOVIE SYNOPSIS: It's a father (Winfried) and daughter (Ines) relationship story. One dances uninhibited through life; the other marches with precision and focus.

A parent realizes his daughter's pursuit of success is driving away her chance of happiness. In his attempt to redefine what a successful goal in life is, he steps into her world and tries to bring along his devil-may-care perspective, hoping to entice her with frivolity and silliness.

My tagline: Sometimes you have to go to an extreme to scramble back and find the balance.

Extraordinarily funny at moments, heartbreakingly tender at others, but ultimately a feeling of dissatisfaction as the film's potential is squandered.

58 /100

14 /25 – Overall 10 /15 – Directing 11 /15 – Acting 07 /15 – Cinematography (colour, angle, camera position) 04 /10 – Editing (rhythm, pace) 06 /10 – Script (dialogue, storyline) 06 /10 – Music/score (sound foley, costume, make-up, casting)

Toni Erdmann is one of my favorite movies of all times. I've watched it for the second time tonight. It's kind of sad to see so many bad reviews here. Subtle, sublime, sophisticated.

Germans don't have a reputation for being extremely funny. In cinema, they are better known for their dramas than for their comedies. 'Toni Erdmann' is the exception to the rule. It's a German comedy and - surprise! - it has funny moments.

On the other hand, this film is as much a drama as a comedy. The focus is not so much on the humor, but rather on the relationship between a father and his daughter. The daughter is a tense career woman, who lives in Bucharest and doesn't really seem to enjoy her life. When her father visits her, he tries to make her unwind a bit by performing crazy pranks and practical jokes. It's because of these jokes, sometimes leading to hilarious situations, that the film is classified as a comedy. But on the other hand, there is always a bitter aftertaste to the humour, because it is secondary to the father-daughter theme.

As irritating and embarrassing the father sometimes is to the daughter, at last he succeeds in changing her attitude. This in itself leads to some bizarre and also dramatically strong scenes.

In my opinion, the script could have used some streamlining and there was no need to stretch the movie to 162 minutes. On the plus side: this film offers an original view to the question how seriously we should take life. And the two lead actors do a great job.

I feel at a loss when it comes to the love for beloved Oscar nominated German dramedy Toni Erdmann.

I've tried to understand why this excessive, criminally long and utterly weird (not funny) film, that at its core tells a rather generic and ordinary story of a father and his daughter has been so blatantly fawned over by many a top critic but I just can't see or understand why Maren Ade's tale has become the so-called classic it's been labelled with.

Over 160 minutes of runtime we the audience get the "privilege" of following around the odd Winfried Conradi whose relationship with his business driven daughter Ines leads him to take up a persona of Toni Erdmann, a self-professed life coach that starts to follow Ines around to become a part of her working life. It's a story with potential but told as dryly and blandly as Ade tells it, this ends up being a rare foreign film where you just can't wait to see a more tightly structured and funny Hollywood remake.

There's nothing wrong with Peter Simonischek or Sandra Hüller's central performances as father and daughter duo Winfried and Ines and the two actors are both game to partake in some odd scenarios, from cupcake antics, odd birthday parties to awkward nights out with the girls, but Toni Erdmann has surely hoodwinked people into thinking strange and bizarre is in fact genius at work and while some who like their films cut from the bizarre corner of filmmaking will lap up Toni Erdmann's fondness for the odd, there will be other viewers such as me you don't buy into what Erdmann is selling us.

It will be interesting to see how Hollywood tackles the stories untypical nature, but there's enough love flowing for the film around the place that acting legend Jack Nicholson has shunned his retirement plans to appear in the remake as the titular Erdmann while Girls superstar Lena Denham is attached to help work on the script, showcasing that Erdmann has its large portion of fans and few detractors.

Final Say –

Quite clearly Toni Erdmann wasn't for me and I understand that I will be one of only a few who didn't find this slow, charmless and cold experience that's trying to be an odd yet touching tale of a father and daughter, a sight for sore eyes.

For those that get on board the journey of Winfried and his quest to reconnect to his daughter, Toni Erdman will be near 3 hours' worth of quality dramatics with laugh out loud oddness, for the other bewildered few, Toni Erdman is one of last year's most unduly praised experiences.

1 cupcake out of 5

Maren Ade has created an opus which may be regarded as a universal comment on our global system where everything seems to be fine as long as economical progress is ongoing. However, we should not forget that pure progress induces dark sides as well.

"Toni Erdmann" has a great screenplay. Basically, it tells a father-daughter-story, but every sign of empathy seems to be frozen. Ines Conradi (Sandra Hüller) shows a great performance as she already did in "Amour Fou". She only lives for working and does not care much about family or emotional matters. All that counts is the progress of her career. Winfried Conradi (Peter Simonischek) interprets a loving father who only wants to spend some time with his daughter. As Ines facade cannot be broken, he starts disturbing her perfect world of rules and manners by becoming Toni Erdmann.

The screenplay does not contain many big plot points but convinces the viewer by the development of its great characters and the intelligent and often embarrassing dialogues. The audience is trapped by the society rules of this business world. Consequently, we are feeling with Ines who is more and more irritated by her father – now transformed to Toni Erdmann. He starts to shatter the stability of the system by his strange, unconventional character and jokes. The dialogues with excellent acting are so trenchant that moments of great humor are coming up.

Everybody of the business world looks strangely at Toni Erdmann when he appears but we start thinking about who is weird and crazy in reality. Is it Toni Erdmann as he is not behaving like everybody else would expect of a supposed business man? Or is it this whole community of economists which takes drugs and which feigns emotions? Maybe Eugène Ionesco can help us to find an answer.

The film itself, most of the time taking place in Romania, only rarely shows poor people as one would assume. Most of the time we just hear about the problems of a German enterprise which has to do some outsourcing. In many scenes we can see that Ines does not really care about the people around her. She is just a representative person of the company and keeps distance. Her father, on the other hand, does not care about society rules and is able to communicate in a simple, affective way with the people of this country.

Gradually Ines is influenced by the spirit of life and the philosophy of her father as she gradually throws off her mask. What does it mean to have a life where one does not have any emotional link to his colleagues? What does it mean to see progress only but to forget that man is a social being? Even when Ines is in front of her secret lover and colleague Tim, she is not able to show any emotions.

With Patrick Orth, director Maren Ade creates a light visual style which is ideally coordinated with the actor's play. We are in a world where we cannot foresee what happens next. When Toni Erdmann appears, everything seems to start trembling. The stability of our conformist and capitalistic system is threatened by the presence of only one "strange" character.

Deeply odd, often painfully funny, sometimes just painful (in the good, emotional way), and often all 3 at once.

A character study of an eccentric father trying to re-connect with his very straight laced adult daughter doesn't sound like it would be nearly as unique as this wildly idiosyncratic film. But Ade (who is terribly under known in the U.S. for her two excellent earlier features "The Forrest for the Trees" and "Everyone Else") manages to keep us delightfully (if sometimes very uncomfortably) off-balance for over two and a half hours as her film and characters resolutely refuse to go where we might expect from other stories with similar themes.

I loved the way Ade explains nothing. There is almost no expository dialog in the whole film. It's up to us to figure out relationships, the past, motives, emotions, sanity vs. madness, even simply what the hell is going on at that moment by really watching the behavioral details of some wonderful performances (especially by her two leads). While the film could perhaps have been trimmed a bit, and not every scene works as well as the best, it's without doubt one of my very favorite films of 2016.

I'm old enough and have seen enough movies that when a film-maker can give me an experience unlike any other I've had with a film before I'm thrilled. And that's what Ade does with this heartbreaking comedy. If forced to describe it with a gun to my head, maybe the best I could come up with for the tone and feel would be "Harold and Maude" as made by Ingmar Bergman. :-)

I watched this movie due to its high mark (especially by the meta-score)and in the last seconds I asked myself: so what ? Like we never saw solitude, loneliness movies ever...The acting is OK, but the subject is stretched over limits, and at a certain time I stopped to watch and went for a cigarette ! My understanding about this movie is about two societies with their characteristics (the German and the Roumanian) both mixed in a capitalistic globalization, I won't say without mercy but without care for real people. Perhaps the last or one of the last sentences of the father was that we work all time to accomplish some targets (typically German !) and don't pay attention to details along our life and then is too late....As a Romanian born young person, the atmosphere of Bucarest is very well depicted as well people surrounding the personages. But one shouldn't wonder, as these days the Romanian cinema is among the highest in its achievements, for example Mungiu's recent film "Bacalaureat" (aka Graduation)stands much above the present one. Sorry folks, but I wasn't left with a great impression.

We all know how a typical family drama runs. A broken relationship falls into some situation that forced the characters to face the issue, the tension grows to the breaking point, they get to learn something, and in the end it resolved them into a new found love and bond (in case of a comedy) or leaves them totally disillusioned and break away from each other (in case of a tragedy). Americans have championed this genre and set the rules we all know, whether we love it or hate it. But here comes a strange rule breaker from Germany, and it beats them all because it stays, despite of all its absurd and quirky situations, totally realistic at its core.

The most prominent emotion through out the film is awkwardness. And no, it's not just because the father doing all sorts of crazy things in his alter-ego, Toni Erdmann. The awkwardness and absurdity dominate everywhere, whether it is a family gathering in Germany or a business meeting in Bucharest. It's essentially because people are all disconnected. It's not that they hate each other or have any ill intentions, but everybody's too afraid to offend anybody, tries too hard to keep the nice facade and fails to share what really matters - even between father and daughter.

The ingenuity of the film is how it treats these awkward moments. Most other films, especially when they brand themselves as a comedy, would try to release the tension with a punch line, a big laugh moment before moving onto the next. In Toni Erdmann, we're not given such easy short cut. We are forced to live through these awkward moments stretching out almost to real time and still not given the luxury of releasing the tension. It might be frustrating for some, but one must admit that is much more akin to real life. Who hasn't experienced a discord with family, partner, friends or colleagues, which keeps you sleepless all night and run into awkward reunion with the person stretching into the following morning? There's no such a thing as an easy solution and relief. Where the father and daughter give a little recital is a high moment of mockery to expectations for such. The choice of song is 'The Greatest Love of All', that is riddled with all the unicorn coloured words like 'children', 'love' and 'dignity' that are 'easy to achieve'. The fact that both father and daughter easily pick it up even on a whim shows that the song represents their shared memory from the past. But despite of that and the optimistic song performed decently by Sandra Huller (considering it's a Whitney song, that is), which would have made the climax in any old American family drama, fails to create that magic moment of 'I love you, dad', 'I love you too, princess'.

But it's not all in vain. Because the father dares to break into his daughter's life, and because the daughter decides, however reluctantly, to go along with it, she learns that he really cares and he her life is much more than the gleaming shopping malls and black business suits. So when it finally comes to the moment, after time after time just seeing the other walking away from a distance in the course of this long awkward journey, when the daughter catches him up and falls into his arms, that short and still awkward hug between the naked daughter and the father in a giant furry costume, strikes your heart so much harder.

When they reunite at the grandma's funeral, nothing much is changed. The social gathering is as shallow as ever, and the father and daughter cut out still an awkward picture together. 'Toni Erdmann' is stubbornly refuses to give us an easy (thus unrealistic) satisfaction to the very last second of its looong journey. Yet, having joined their journey, we can tell they won't now at least blindly complain, 'Oh, he (she) knows nothing!'. And when the time comes when the daughter remembers her father in the future, it would be those few days she lived with Toni Erdmann that she is going to relive time after time.

After about 10 minutes of it, I came to the conclusion that "Toni Erdmann" was a terrible film and wanted to turn it off. But for some reason I kept watching, and kept watching, until suddenly 2+ hours had gone by. After watching, I still kind of think it's a terrible film, but also have an appreciation for the journey it took me on. I can see how some people on get the former experience, so one will have to judge for themselves whether this type of film is their cup of tea.

To me, "Toni Erdmann" is a film about emptiness. It's about empty people, living empty lives, all striving for something. While there are some solid laugh out loud moments in the film, I actually found it a bit depressing. I think I see too much of my own life and the lives of those around me here. These characters all seem to be desperately striving for something in their lives - to feel something - but all falling short.

In that respect, it's one of the most "modern" films I've ever seen - a film that really tries to capture the current time we live in. The vast majority of entertainment today tries to take us away to some other place, time, or culture, so this film is remarkable in how it takes on our society dead on. The impression left is not favourable.

PS: "Toni Erdmann" is quite similar to the Swedish film "The Square," so if you enjoyed one you will likely enjoy the other.

"Toni Erdmann" is a father/daughter comedy-drama from Germany that critics are calling a masterpiece and the best film of the year when, in fact, it's just the kind of sentimental twaddle that Hollywood does somewhat more slickly and already we're told it's to be remade as a vehicle for Jack Nicholson in a role that could win him a fourth Oscar.

It certainly isn't a bad movie but it's far from being a great one and at almost three hours is way too long. The humour is broad and obvious and every plot device is signposted in advance. What redeems the film are the performances of Peter Simonischek as the father and Sandra Huller as his daughter. Indeed, Simonischek is terrific as the shambolic joker who decides to interfere in his daughter's business affairs when he feels she isn't coping and Toni Erdmann is the fictitious character he invents to activate his plan. Huller is equally good as the daughter who seems to have lost her way in life, (her rendition of 'The Greatest Love of All' is worth the price of admission). In fact, they are both so good I just kept wishing they had better material to work with. It's pleasant enough but I am still baffled by its success.

What a great experience this film was. This different story is based on family relationships, and explores these at a deep level. In this great movie, it is about the relationship between father and daughter. Two very different personalities who strive to create a better relationship with each other. I will not reveal anything except that as with any difficult family relationships, so it can be both demanding and tough. This movie is long, and has been criticized for it. But not by me. Every scene is important, and the movie never gets boring or tedious. The story develops. One of the best things about the film is that it is unpredictable, that the characters will surprise and amaze. Lovely to see and experience. I would also like to highlight the wonderful role performance. I just need to see more German film after this, there is no doubt. Recommend this. One of the best from 2016.

Maren Ade's third feature film "Toni Erdmann" (2016) has received an equal amount of tears and laughs at many film festival screenings ending with standing ovations. A maturely crafted and emotionally thought-through psychological treatise on the enduring theme of child-parent relationships, "Toni Erdmann" tells about an obsessive jester (Peter Simonischek) desperately trying to reconnect with his estranged, dead-serious daughter (Sandra Hüller) who spends more time on the phone and business meetings than with friends or family. This attempt turns into a strange play with the father devising a character called Toni Erdmann to help his daughter which will potentially result in the daughter taking off her social mask. The film is a welcome surprise from German cinema, which has lacked international acclaim for a few years, and a pleasant viewing experience as an eccentric combination of the absurd and the mundane as well as the tragic and the comic.

The brief synopsis given above might already reveal the gist of the humor in the film, but Ade's comedy does not fall short of insight. The main source for the humor is, of course, the dynamics between the father and the daughter as well as the father's awkward maladjustment to his daughter's professional habitat. This humor, relying on the superb performances of the two leading actors, is essentially supported by Ade's restraint style varying between such opposites as a tranquil continuity created by longer takes and more classical editing of shots with reverse shots, a hand-held camera as a realist denominator and a stripped soundscape as a stylized denominator where distant and quiet off-screen sounds are almost as conspicuous as a traditional music score is by its absence, spaces characterized by cold sterility (the daughter's apartment in Bucharest looks more like a hotel room than a home) opposed to blue-collar spaces with warmer light and color. Overall, a big part of the humor takes off from the fact that Ade's ironic narrative seems to keep its distance to the father's jests and jokes. There is a seeming coldness to Ade's approach. The jokes might make the spectator laugh or chuckle, while remaining to dangle in the void against Ade's stylistic program which gives no response to their echo of quietude.

Such subtlety is perfect for Ade's themes which require both duration in time and width in space. The secrets and untold memories, the many repressed feelings and desires, covered longings and missed opportunities are psychological phenomena which by their nature do not disclose themselves which is why Ade's decision to make a longer and less obvious film is, to put it simply, brilliant. It is as if Ade's narrative picked up by chance a recurring cycle in the human life resulting in unhappiness over and over again. This cycle is treated, above all, through the theme of acting from the daughter's constant need to play someone else, so to speak, in the business world while losing her true self to her father's corresponding need to put on a show which, however, can also work as an opportunity for breaking free from the act for the daughter.

While all this might make some accuse Ade of abandoning the social world at the expense of discussing the petty life crises of the upper middle class, it should be noticed that "Toni Erdmann" never falls short of recognizing social themes of a topical nature. The capitalist business world of the daughter's everyday life appears as distant and bleak where people lose themselves into the rat race of planning a career and the superficial mastery of the constantly changing languages (German, Romanian, English, French). The linguistic plurality correlates with existential emptiness as the words, which have been learned by heart a few weeks before important business meetings, fail to realize something real, causing one to become more and more distant from the timid shadows of one's identity. The social themes are there, but always filtered through Ade's main point of thematic focus.

In terms of both the question of the society and humanity, Ade refuses to give us answers. If the father's fictional creation of Toni Erdmann appeared as a parody of contemporary self-help and life coach culture, Ade's "Toni Erdmann" would remain a creation without self-assured help. There is act and emancipation but no absolute resolution. Instead of such an outcome, Ade looks at life in all its, both comic and tragic, absurdity without shielding a private part or averting an eye.