Eltern

Summary

Parents

Konrad (41), unconventional father of Käthe (10) and Emma (5) is a house-father, his wife Christine (40) a career anaesthesiologist. The central figure in his kids' lives, he holds the family together with imagination and energy. But familiar roles wobble when he gets the chance to return to his profession as a theater director. With Käthe on holiday and Emma's kindergarten closed, they hire an au-pair girl, Isabella (18) from Argentina.

On her first evening Isabella faints: she is pregnant. It's just the start of problems that bring the family's deeper issues and deficits to the surface.

Christine loves her work and is about to be promoted, but only if she gives her all. Once again, Konrad has to take care of the kids and Isabella. But the first chaotic rehearsal, with the children in tow, makes him painfully aware the family constellation must change if he wants to progress with his own career. Suddenly, his and Christine's individual interests are incompatible and Konrad finally feels he has to force her to take her part of the responsibility – so he moves out.

The result is instant family chaos! There is no way Christine can replace the "Konrad System", something Käthe and Emma feel at once, as well. Christine has a crisis, least of which is she feels she has been shut out for years from the perfect community that is Konrad and the girls. Except he is also plagued with doubt since it has been so long since he was professionally active and now conflicts with his diva-like stars threaten to destroy his chance of a comeback. Meanwhile, Isabella, trying to decide whether she should keep her child, feels she has been abandoned by the adults.

Torn by their own problems, Konrad and Christine also fail to notice their children are not so young anymore and are making their own decisions. They are no longer able or willing to serve as an excuse for their parents' unfulfilled hopes and dreams.

Source: German Films Service & Marketing GmbH