Toni Erdmann

This is the sort of film Hollywood doesn’t make. It has a refreshing lack of inhibition without sensationalism and a subtle plot line that finds a balance between restraint and abandon, sensitivity and absurdity, nuance and brashness.

Written and directed by Maren Ade, Toni Erdmann is a German film, set in Germany and Romania. The story centres on the fractured relationship between a father with an unmitigated sense of mischief and his ambitious daughter who is trying to succeed in an industry populated by misogynous men.

Father and daughter each seem to be going through personal transitions – possibly even breakdowns – that test but then ultimately repair their relationship with each other.

There is no underscore and the narrative is fairly evenly paced, yet there are extreme moments of hilarity, crudity and visceral emotion.

Peter Simonischek is infuriating and endearing as Winfried Conradi (who assumes the alter ego Toni Erdmann). Sandra Hüller plays an intriguing and complex Ines Conradi.

There is humour, pathos, social commentary, a bit of the bizarre and some un-pixelated nudity. It’s thoroughly engrossing. (RB)

★★★★

(NB: German with English subtitles)

BY RITA BRATOVICH