TV tip
Adult children with boomerang effect: “Forever Parents”
Anja Wagner (Anja Schneider, left), her husband Michael (Devid Striesow, 2nd from left) and their son Niklas (Max Schimmelpfennig, 2nd from right) talk to Niklas’ sister Stella on the screen. Photo: Juegen Olczyk/ZDF/Arte/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
They have fulfilled their family duties perfectly: For Anja and Michael it looks like they can enjoy a whole new freedom from now on. puff cake. The brood is suddenly at the door again.
The offspring have been raised, the house has been sold. Now Michael (Devid Striesow) and his wife Anja (Anja Schneider) want to enjoy life. They are happy about their small, beautiful apartment, which is not far from downtown Munich.
They know their two adult children are well taken care of: their daughter Stella (Pauline Fusban) has a fairly well-paid job abroad, their son Niklas (Max Schimmelpfennig) is about to take his last exam in his teacher training and lives in a shared flat.
The comedy “Forever Parents” starts so harmoniously this Friday at 8:15 p.m. on Arte, a repeat of 2021. But of course things are different. Because Niklas flies out without further ado and upright. And since affordable housing is hard to find at the moment, he barges in on his parents and surprises them at a very inopportune moment. Niklas’ girlfriend soon follows him.
The director Florian Schwarz (“The White Rabbit”) and the screenwriter Peter Probst (“Beautiful Mess”) have staged a pleasantly light film that strikes comedic tones from the start.
But in addition to the many thoroughly realistic, sometimes absurd scenes from a completely normal everyday family life, such as snoring and waiting in front of the bathroom and all kinds of situational comedy, there are also a few moments of considerable depth that run through the film, which is as entertaining as it is smart about life. The topic of nestling brings everyone involved to the brink of madness and then increasingly to the realization that going separate ways can often lead to a more relaxed togetherness.
Convincing actors at the start
The actors act accurately and well. As a somewhat too good-natured and therefore increasingly annoyed couple, Devid Striesow (“Tatort”) and Anja Schneider (“Die Eifelpraxis”) are able to convince. While the father constantly brags about his successful daughter and thus increasingly unsettles his son, the mother quickly falls back into her role as a mother and immediately does the laundry for the filius – until the couple is almost on the verge of a separation.
Max Schimmelpfennig (“Dark”) as the rather spoiled son Niklas is also believable – the twenty-something just can’t get anything done. At least until shortly before the end, which fortunately doesn’t spill any harmony sauce, but instead has a tangible surprise in store.