Based on Erich Kästner’s iconic novel, director Dominik Graf (Beloved Sisters) re-unites Never Look Away stars Tom Schilling and Saskia Rosendahl for this exhilarating epic set in 1931 Berlin.
Raffish twenty-something Jakob Fabian works as an advertising copywriter for a cigarette company during the day. At night, he drifts through cabaret bars, brothels and artist studios with his wealthy leftist friend Labude (rising star Albrecht Schuch, also in Berlin Alexanderplatz). When he meets Cornelia, a self-confident aspiring actress, he manages to shed his pessimistic attitude for a moment and falls in love. But then, he too falls victim to the great wave of layoffs, whilst Cornelia’s career blossoms thanks to her boss and admirer, Makart, a Babelsberg Studio mogul. It’s an arrangement that Fabian finds difficult to come to terms with. But it's not just his world that is falling apart...
Capturing a world of moral decline and disillusionment, this ‘Bildungsroman’ is a enthralling dive into Weimar Germany on the edge of self-destruction.