With a strong 900,000 tickets sold, “The Pubertier – The Film” even landed one place ahead of the $185 million blockbuster “Kong: Skull Island” in the 2017 German annual charts. So it's no wonder that “The Elders”, the film adaptation of another autobiographically inspired bestseller by Jan Weiler (“Maria, he doesn't like it!”), is now coming to cinemas: where in the previous film the focus was on the daughter's puberty, this time it's about the moment in which she leaves the house as a young adult (and in this special case, takes her mother with her). Since the indirect sequel took nine years to arrive, a lot has happened in front of and behind the camera:
This time it is not Leander Haußmann who is in the director's chair, but Sönke Wortmann, who recently scored five hits in a row with “The First Name”, “Contra”, “Included Society”, “The Last Name” and “The Nickname”. Since it's going so well, it's not surprising that he refreshes some of the most tried-and-tested gags in “The Elders” – especially gender (with a tired punch line) and food intolerances (with an amusing variation) that he could probably spend forever working on. But luckily there's Eberhofer star Sebastian Bezzel, who takes on the role of Jan Weiler's alter ego Hannes instead of Jan Josef Liefers – and immediately wins us over to his side with a wonderfully sloppy performance.
The whole family gets together again at Christmas – but unfortunately, daughter Cara (Kya-Celina Barucki) also brought her new boyfriend with her…
For Hannes (Sebastian Bezzel), it would be best to just carry on like this: he lives with his high-earning judge wife Sara (Anna Schudt) in one of the best areas of Hamburg, while he has been writing a series of fantasy novels for ages, the first part of which, “In the Orbit of the Seagull,” was widely celebrated, but which has not developed a bit since then. But then Hannes is forcefully pushed out of his comfort zone: Not only does his daughter Cara (Kya-Celina Barucki) want to move into her own apartment to study, she also takes her mother with her, who is finally tired of the marriage after years of monotony.
From now on, Hannes not only has to take care of his grumpy high school graduate son Nick (Philip Müller), who is particularly behind in math, but also has to reorient himself – whether he wants to or not – in matters of love. In order to get his wobbly body back into shape, swimming is on the agenda – and Hannes can barely manage at least a 25-meter lap. In return, he gets to know the – quite a bit younger – scientist Vanessa (Judith Bohle). She's even familiar with his books – if only because his first volume fits perfectly under the short leg of her wobbly dining table…
What really matters
After more than three million visitors for his “Name” trilogy, “The Moving Man” director Sönke Wortmann remains loyal to the upper middle class in “The Elders” and continues to work diligently on the obvious affluence sensitivities: The fact that the upper school committee, which is very well versed in diversity issues, changed the wrong name at a graduation party doesn't make any sense, but apparently this topic doesn't even need a punch line to get the expected result to receive applause.
Then it's better to have the inevitable intolerance gag when zombies with lactose intolerance suddenly ask for the right organic chocolate on Halloween – or the reaction to the supposedly harmless dad saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day: “Genital mutilation is IMPORTANT!”
His publisher also suggests that Hannes (Sebastian Bezzel) should finally change something – in his novels, but also in his life.
Despite everything, “The Elders” is almost disarmingly charming most of the time: Sebastian Bezzel, who will soon return as Franz Eberhofer after a three-year break with “Steckerlfischfiasko”, throws himself into his resigned role without any false vanity – and scores points with a bone-dry humor that is primarily aimed at himself. In any case, Jan Weiler is known for his precise observations, which are rarely about bashing others, but are mostly about exposing themselves.
Even Paul (Enzo Brumm), the daughter's new boyfriend, who constantly stuffs himself with food lying around while randomly mixing up every imaginable proverb, is not only reduced to an easy target, but also gets the last laugh on his side.
Conclusion: The chances are extremely good that Sönke Wortmann will land his sixth cinema hit in a row with “The Elders” – only very, very few directors have achieved that in Germany. He should especially thank his grandiose, silty leading actor Sebastian Bezzel – as well as novelist Jan Weiler for his self-ironic, revealing, charmingly unpretentious observations on empty nest syndrome.