A pedantic pensioner and a cheerful art professor prove that great feelings have no expiration date.
What actually happens to love if you avoid it for four decades? Director Marc Rothemund and screenwriter Richard Kropf, who recently celebrated a great success with “Wochenendrebellen” (2023, FBW rating “particularly valuable”), deliver an answer in the cinema with “An Almost Perfect Proposal” that invites you to laugh and think in equal measure.
The focus is on widower Walter Adler, a retired engineer who spends his days piling up restaurants with meticulous online reviews. Heiner Lauterbach (72) plays this pedantic curmudgeon with obvious pleasure. During one of his visits to a restaurant, of all places, he runs into his childhood sweetheart Alice. 40 years ago, his marriage proposal went spectacularly wrong. Now they are facing each other again, and the old attraction has apparently not faded – at least for now.
Scene from “An Almost Perfect Proposal”
Back to school – at 60 plus
In the meantime, Alice has developed into a free-spirited and freedom-loving woman who works as an art professor at the University of Regensburg and can do without the stress of relationships. Iris Berben (75) plays it with great confidence. Alice gives Walter a clear condition: If he really wants to get to know her, he has to be interested in her world. So the pensioner quickly enrolls in her course as a guest student – and from then on not only has to woo Alice, but also has to assert himself in a lecture hall full of fellow students who are 40 years younger.
“I found the female figure wonderfully normal – that’s exactly what’s rare,” Berben enthuses about her role in an interview with spot on news. “She is self-determined, independent, curious, awake, open, even contradictory. Such roles are usually written for women in their early 30s or 40s. But this character is in her late 60s, maybe 70s.”
Scene from “An Almost Perfect Proposal”
Regensburg as the secret protagonist
The film is particularly clever in intertwining generational conflict and love story. Walter stumbles across young students like the non-binary Zero (Jonathan Perleth, 31, “Polizeiruf 110: Daniel A.”) or the friendly Flora, who is embodied by Lauterbach’s real daughter Maya Lauterbach (23). The film shows the funny sides when generations meet each other without taking sides or making fun of each other. “This exchange enlivens both sides,” explains Berben. “With each other instead of against each other – that also makes more sense on set,” she says and explains: “Everyone had their place, every character had their importance. This also shows that individuality is more important than conformity. You should ask yourself: Who am I? What do I want to tell? That’s more exciting than just following trends,” is the advice of the award-winning actress.
Regensburg, which is not often shown cinematically, turns out to be the perfect backdrop for the story. The stone bridge, the narrow streets, the university atmosphere – the city plays a part in every shot. “It was a dream,” says Berben. “Regensburg was almost like another leading actor.” Supporting characters such as Walter’s loyal dog Barney, whose farewell is one of the film’s emotionally strong moments, or bizarre roommates in an artists’ shared apartment give the story additional warmth and depth.
Iris Berben in the romantic comedy “An Almost Perfect Proposal”
A RomCom that avoids the cliche
Rothemund balances humor and emotion with a sure hand. Bizarre ideas – such as a roommate who practices “slime fasting” – stand alongside quiet, touching moments. The fact that some of the twists seem predictable is hardly important. Because the finale elegantly avoids the cliché. “I think it’s nice that the ending is not what was expected,” reveals Berben. “It’s about the freedom to choose each other every day. That’s wonderfully grown-up.”
The production by Studio Zentral in cooperation with Leonine Studios and ARD Degeto hits a nerve: in a time that is often overwhelming, cinema can be a place where very different people dream together. “An Almost Perfect Proposal” is not a film that reinvents the genre. But it is a heartfelt, cleverly cast plea that curiosity and butterflies in the stomach have no expiration date. Lauterbach and Berben make it a charming evening at the cinema for adults who know that perfection is overrated.
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