Toni Erdmann * * * * *

The beautiful madness of Toni Erdmann

At times when I was watching this I felt that the filmmaker just didn’t care:  Didn’t care about the way things should be done, didn’t care about a tight script and sticking to it, didn’t care about shooting scenes that seemed completely unnecessary, didn’t care about how unlikely and out of place some scenes were, didn’t care about how unlikely the conduct of some characters were, didn’t care that it wasn’t like other films, didn’t care how much she was asking of the actors.

    And yet director Maren Ade has pulled the whole thing off.  Like some people you meet in life, there is a charisma about this film that lets you forgive all it’s wrongness, a charm that protects itself from outstaying it’s welcome.  I mean, this has got all the ingredients to really piss you off - and yet you end up loving it.

     The premise is strong - a fractured father/daughter relationship. Ines is an ambitious young business woman.  You wouldn't necessarily call her successful but she is working on it.  She is also working on killing her conscience which is a requirement of the consulting company she works for.  (One of those horrible organisations that do all the sacking for other companies so they can make more profit). She has been sent to Bucharest to work.

    Her father Winifred, has recently retired as a music teacher. He has been a bit of a prankster all his life. When his old dog dies he hasn’t got much to stay at home for anymore, so he decides to go to Bucharest to see Ines.  It’s not a good visit, but he realises Ines hasn’t got as much happiness and freedom in her life as she should.  After a week Winifred says goodbye to Ines and supposedly returns to Germany but he doesn't leave.

    Instead he turns up at her work: He wears a bad wig and comical  protruding bad teeth and introduces himself as Toni Erdmann. He tells her colleagues he is there because he is a motivational speaker and life coach to the CEO of the company she works for.
He also appears in bars when she is out for drinks with friends.

   Meanwhile we see Ines trying to get on with her career.  She endures sexism and condescension from her colleagues.  She is under pressure for a presentation she has to do to win a large contract......and then we see her sex life and it’s like ----- OMG where did that scene come from!!!? It's like hardcore porn.

    One afternoon when he visits her just before she has to visit a company mining site she is left with no choice but to drag him along.  He befriends peasants near the mining site, they give him apples.  
At a party which he gatecrashes he tells everyone she is going to sing for them. The outcome is something you will not forget.

    Later, Ines hosts a party at home.  She can’t decide what to wear and gets caught between changing dresses as the doorbell rings. It’s at that point you realise she is as beautifully crazy as her Dad. She just doesn't know it, or won't admit it.
The scene that follows is heart achingly beautiful. It looks like they just went into the park and shot it in one take.

    This whole film is so whacky, so crazy, so seductive in its beautiful madness, I don’t think we’ll see anything quite like it again for quite a while. Though it has already been slated for a Hollywood remake, but it won’t be this.  They couldn't do this.   Go see the real, the original Toni Erdmann whilst you can. It’s glorious.
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