A 2016 German comedy feature at almost 3 hours in length, Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann is one film I thought would never be checked off my ever-growing watchlist. Yet, as per the wonderful people at MUBI, who so kindly have been offering movie lovers an extended trial period to satiate their cinematic yearnings over the course of lockdown 2020/21, I was finally able to sit down and take in all Ade’s Oscar-nominated, critical darling has to offer. Which, to my surprise, was a well-paced, raucously funny, overwhelmingly heart-warming and life-rejuvenating piece about the importance of happiness and human connection in a world so intent on destabilising those efforts.
The film follows Winfried (Peter Simonischek), a music teacher and ageing father with a unique disposition for cringe comedy, who endeavours to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Ines (Sandra Hüller), a business consultant whose present occupation has her living and working in Bucharest, Romania. After a brief introduction to Winfried’s life and aforementioned penchant for comedy – which sees him sporting a now-iconic set of fake teeth as part of his outrageous alter-ego, Toni Erdmann – we are subject to an early birthday celebration for Ines, at which we see the extent of the father-daughter disconnect.
Ines barely tolerates Winfried. Through his outrageous comedy and embarrassing performances, Ines can hardly stand her father and instead would rather pretend to be speaking to someone else on the phone than speak to him in person. Winfried, on the other hand, doesn’t even know his daughter. They share some laughs, which may infer some distant memories of a once familial connection, yet he has no idea what she does for work, nor who she is as an individual. They simply exist as blood relatives; indulging each other for the sake of family. It takes a personal tragedy to spur Winfried into action and travel to Bucharest to attend a business reception in order to reconnect with his daughter and, hopefully, remind her of life outside of work.
The following ensues an increasingly hilarious and equally poignant depiction of life and the joys therein as we witness Winfried take up the mantle of Toni Erdmann, infiltrating Ines’ work environment by posing as her CEO’s life coach with signature fake teeth and added wig to boot.
Now, while the film sets up the burgeoning reconnecting between father and daughter, Toni Erdmann also acts as an effective criticism of sexism in the workplace. Ines is a hard worker, seemingly the hardest working in her company; producing exceptional results and doing everything she can to surpass expectations. Yet, her CEO and the surrounding men, all treat her as lesser than themselves. Ines yearns for the praise of her superiors yet is kicked to the curb of every encounter. Even when her father, amidst all his jokes and overtly mislaid attendance, comes into the midst of things, her CEO prefers his company over hers; inviting him to drinks and merely tolerating Ines’ presence. Ines is suffocating under the oppression of the men who embody the patriarchal concerns of global business and her father sees this plainly.
Winfried wants not only to reconnect with his daughter but to show her the better things in life: to laugh, to cry and to not take things so seriously which Ines seems incapable of doing. Yet, while on his journey of infiltration, Winfried also discovers the nascent complexities of Ines’ work and the negative effects of globalisation. Ines is tasked with outsourcing the work of a Romanian oil well to international employees; thereby taking the jobs of hardworking residents and dolling it out to the cheaper alternative. Winfried begins to understand the depressing nature of Ines’ job and depersonalising results of globalisation, and his sympathy for her blossoms thusly.
There is a scene that captures the themes of Toni Erdmann wholeheartedly, and funnily enough, it acts similarly to that of the climactic dance scene to Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which I reviewed previously. After visiting the oil well, Winfried takes Ines to a local party; a family celebration organised by one of the people Winfried had met on his escapades as the outrageous Toni Erdmann. While maintaining his guise, Winfried pushes Ines to accompany him in performing Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” for the household, to which she begrudgingly accepts. And, like the scene from Another Round, Ines becomes enveloped in the song and her performance, singing her heart out for seemingly no other reason than to have fun, to act wild and to realise that life is fleeting, and for work to consume one’s whole being is a waste. It’s one of those life-affirming scenes which exposes, beautifully, Ines’ aching need for happiness and human connection. To revel in the joys of life rather than become a slave to a system that fails to respect and satisfy her both personally and professionally. The scene is loud, unfiltered, raw and wonderful, and it precedes one of the funniest and most outlandish scenes of the film; one that I will refrain from spoiling as to allow prospective viewers to share the same bewilderment as I did while watching it.
Toni Erdmann is almost 3 hours long, yet is paced so eloquently that it feels no more than 90 minutes. It is a full-bodied serving of the most audacious comedy that packs a hefty pinch of pathos to boot. It’s simply a masterpiece in subtext and an incredible effort for both its central players and Ade, as director, collectively.
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