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Good Bye, Lenin!

After his mother wakes from a coma, a man goes to great lengths to pretend East Germany still exists in this wonderfully bittersweet tragicomedy.

Drama 2003 121 mins

Director: Wolfgang Becker

Kermode introduces Watch trailer Subscribe to watch

Overview

Devoted socialist Christiane suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma after witnessing her son Alex being arrested at an anti-government protest in 1989. While she lies unconscious in hospital, the Berlin Wall falls, and the GDR she was dedicated to is dismantled.

When Christiane wakes up, Alex is warned by doctors that any shock could kill her, so he goes to extraordinary lengths to restore their flat to its old décor, plays old recordings on the TV and even creates his own GDR news reports to keep up the ruse. Winner of numerous awards and nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe, Wolfgang Becker deftly combines elaborate political satire with a bittersweet coming-of-age comedy centred around a boy’s love for his mother.

Director

Wolfgang Becker

Featuring

Daniel Brühl , Katrin Sass , Maria Simon , Chulpan Khamatova and Florian Lukas

Genres

Drama

Certificate

Contains sexualised nudity

Country

Germany

Language

German with English subtitles

Accessibility

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