It took four years after the premiere and a pandemic to came over the world for me to get to see ‘Toni Erdmann‘, the German film written and directed in 2016 by Maren Ade, a film that surprised the film industry and left little world indifferent. Many have loved this film, found it original and discovered its cinematic and emotional qualities. There were, however, quite a few spectators who came out disappointed by the viewing, and wondered aloud why so much noise is being made around him. My impression after this relatively late viewing is very clear on the side of those who loved this movie, but I think I can understand the reservations of others.
The story of ‘Toni Erdmann‘ seems to have been told several times and the theme of the film is familiar to Hollywood and European art film makers. A father at the retirement age has an uncomfortable relationship with his daughter, a super-efficient corporate consultant. He visits her unexpectedly in the neo-capitalist Romania where she works, and discovers that the girl’s life is wasted between endless hours spent in business meetings and the surrogates of life typical to young professionals engaged in business (receptions, restaurants, team-building, sex without love, occasionally drugs). The father’s attempts to draw her attention to the trifles that make life worth living are in dissonance with the daughter’s ambitions and lifestyle. The road to the living core of her soul and to the true feelings is barred by several carapaces that must be pierced and artificial wrapping and clothes that must be abandoned (some of them literally).
The originality of this film lies in the way the story is told and the way it is interpreted, especially by the actor who plays the main role. Peter Simonischek has neither the charisma of a Gérard Depardieu nor the innocence of a Tom Hanks, and his presence in the company offices or at the receptions at which his daughter drags him seems permanently dissonant. Yet, he still accepted – because of the politeness of Romanians to strangers or because of social conveniences. In fact, the only thing that interests him is to reach the heart of his daughter, played by Sandra Hüller with a mixture of loneliness and false self-confidence. It is a paternal love story and a social, but especially moral, criticism of the capitalist environment and of the so-called corporate culture, and of their effects on those who sell their souls for careers in this environment. The dialogues written by Maren Ade and the way in which she sets the story, including the credible description of the Romanian background in which most of the action takes place, manage to make the film go beyond the level of a moralizing melodrama and create a movie with two characters from two different generations, who stay with us after the viewing.