Review: Toni Erdmann

Directed by: Maren Ade

Written by: Maren Ade

Starring: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller, Ingrid Bisu, Michael Wittenborn, Thomas Loibl

Rating: [4/5]

When fully in the adult world having to pay taxes and deal with the general nonsense life tosses along, it gets easier to remain serious and forget to reconnect with one’s inherent silliness. Tapping back into that becomes more difficult the more cynicism and general seriousness of the life around us takes hold. Toni Erdmann dares to throw a grenade in all of the stoicness individuals have in life to live a bit differently making for something wholly unique in more than one way. 

Following the death of his dog, divorced music teacher Winfried Conradi (Peter Simonischek) decides he needs to reconnect with his adult daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller) who lives in Romania working as a consultant. When he arrives, he lets his silliness let loose causing some issues for Ines as she tries to make the most of her current position that she hates how much it takes away from everything else in her life. 

Selling a nearly 3-hour family comedy to anyone should and would come as a hard proposition to convince someone how a story like this could sustain such a runtime. While true that films with this subject matter typically nestle at nearly half the runtime of this feature, Toni Erdmann earns the time commitment by telling such a heartwarming story that will make you tear up and laugh aplenty. It does by ensuring we connect deeply with these two characters and how we never want to leave their story. Winfried has so much he still teaches his very accomplished daughter and where the film begins and ends demonstrates just that even in the way he tends to annoy her rightfully. 

On a professional level, the two could not be more different in their approaches. Winfried has a genuine passion for the work he does while Ines lets it consume her in the moments she spends with her parents where she’s constantly on the phone. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that as anyone can dictate the amount of time they should dedicate to their work, but it certainly clashes with the way she was raised by her parents. It makes Winfried just visiting her randomly in Bucharest all the more random. It becomes evident Ines has built a level of order in her life where she has a measure of control. Winfried comes in like a wrecking ball to bring chaos in his own endearing manner, which becomes this potential catalyst for change. 

As a whole, Toni Erdmann gets into the meat and potatoes of what it means to live a meaningful life, which Ines has difficulty grasping because of how she values success and seeks to achieve it from a place that will not put her feelings and aspirations first. All relationships she has other than with her parents have this transactional nature to them where everyone has something to gain from the dynamic, which makes Winfried such an intriguing individual to throw into the mix and it all transpires in a hilarious manner. 

One element that appears on multiple occasions throughout the feature is the fake teeth Winfried sports whenever he wants to present his goofiness or enters into the alter ego, the titular character Toni Erdmann. The way he continually interjects into things Ines wants to do while in Bucharest for her job proves incredibly hilarious, especially in the manner in which others react to him when not knowing he’s Ines’s father. Almost like a jump scare when he appears throughout the feature, Winfried wants to convey this message to his daughter hoping she comes to grips with what this life has to offer and how she can mine so much more out of it. 

Operating as a two-hander, Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller shine as this father-daughter duo as they play everything out in such a hilarious manner. Simonischek makes everything his character state a piece of solid gold in the way it lands. Whether it lands in the comedic realm or deeply prescient as a larger ideal of life, the man allows this father character to bring entertainment but never makes him a complete annoyance with all of his interruptions. Hüller on the other hand plays the straight-man character in this feature and shines in trying to maintain her cool amongst all of the nonsense her character must deal with in unconventional ways. 

Maren Ade excels vibrantly in her third feature film delivering yet another exquisite work of emotional storytelling. She succeeded immediately with her first two features, The Forest for the Trees and Everyone Else where she dug into more anxiety-driven stories jumped into the deep end of comedy, and absolutely delivered something wonderfully worthwhile. She sits right in those awkward moments and maintains complete control of the story in such a proficient manner that continues to demonstrate her effectiveness as a filmmaker.  

While never fully justifying its eye-wateringly long runtime for its subject matter, Toni Erdmann astounds with what it manages to convey in such an effective manner and makes for something both incredibly hilarious and touching. It allows for a sense of hope of reconnection even between a parent and their adult child while also fully embracing the idea of never fully letting go of one’s silly side that will warm the heart of anyone who decides to watch it.