2 men, 2 women - 4 problems !?
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | 2 men, 2 women - 4 problems !? |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 93 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Vivian Naefe |
| script | Vivian Naefe, Walter Kärger, Barbara Jago, Pamela Katz |
| production | Marc Oliver Dreher, Herbert Knopp, Harald Kügler, Elvira Senft, Molly von Fürstenberg |
| music | Dieter Schleip |
| camera | Peter Döttling |
| cut | Hansjörg Weißbrich |
| occupation | |
| |
2 men, 2 women - 4 problems !? is a German comedy from 1998 . Directed by Vivian Naefe .
action
The two Munich couples Eva and Luis and Nick and Charlotte couldn't be more different. Eva's and Luis' life is one of chaos and money problems. As a waitress, Eva has kept the family afloat for years. With the birth of the two children, Eva set back significantly in order to let her husband Luis, an unsuccessful painter , continue to live his dream. Their children don't make things any easier. The 6-year-old Florian calls the fire brigade out of boredom, which means an expensive operation. 3 year old Rosa doesn't speak a word and still needs diapers. This contrasts with the married couple Nick and Charlotte. Nick is a successful, arrogant star lawyer suffering from acute child allergies , Charlotte is a successful banker . Together they treat themselves to a very sophisticated lifestyle. The love life, however, is nothing more than another, often canceled appointment in the full calendar.
She met Luis at an art exhibition at Charlotte's Bank. The two start an affair and after a while they decide to go on a romantic vacation to Venice . Meanwhile Eva met Nick by chance in the restaurant. The waitress and the guest get into an argument, whereupon Eva loses her job. Charlotte pretends to go on a business trip, Luis claims to have received a one-week art scholarship in London at short notice . As Luis forgets the family photo at home the next day, Florian and Rosa ask their mother to take the photo to the father at the airport . There Eva happened to see the couple Charlotte and Luis who are kissing in love. Eva recognizes her through a newspaper article regarding a prize recently awarded to Charlotte. She runs after them, but is stopped by the police because of an alleged pistol, which is just a children's water pistol.
Luis calls home from Venice, speaks on the answering machine and pretends to have arrived safely in London. However, Eva hears the bells of St. Mark's Basilica and thus knows Luis' true whereabouts. Since Charlotte's husband Nick is mentioned in the newspaper article, Eva develops the plan to kidnap Nick and drive him and the children to Venice over the weekend to confront the unfaithful spouse together. With the water pistol held up, she forces Nick into her old car, handcuffs him and drives south. While driving, she informs Nick of the plan, but she doesn't believe a word she says. He offers her 20,000 DM if she lets him go, which Eva refuses. Nick's situation is all the more unfortunate as he has an important case in court next week, if his client wins, he can lay off 200 employees and save high costs. Eva cannot understand this morally, which leads to arguments between the two of them again and again. The journey through Italy turns out to be an arduous odyssey for both of them, in which Nick tries again and again to escape his kidnapper.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Luis' love vacation is not going according to plan and anything but romantic. First Luis suffers from impotence and then catches mussel poisoning with severe diarrhea . In addition, there are initial disputes due to the now consciously perceived poor characteristics of the other.
When Eva and Nick were robbed and found themselves without money or papers, Nick suddenly wanted to go to Venice voluntarily - he urgently needed money and a passport from the German embassy . But there is a problem - Nick is a non-swimmer and is terrified of water. Once in Venice, however, the problems don't stop. The embassy is closed and the children are crying from hunger. Nick feels sorry and entertains Rosa and Florian while Eva is looking for food. To freshen up for a moment, they make a short stop in a museum. Since Eva no longer has diapers, she wants to make one out of toilet paper for Rosa, but the child goes to the toilet independently for the first time. Charlotte and Luis, who are also present, barely miss them. On the way out they stop in front of the painting The Pilgrim Madonna by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio . Eva answers Florian's questions about the picture and can impress Nick with her knowledge of art. You end up going to a restaurant to eat there. Nick incorrectly assumes that Eva has money and will pay for it. When she denies this and the waiter wants to collect the money, Nick is beside himself. However, Eva can soothe the restaurant owner with her piano playing and impress Nick again. While Eva is entertaining the guests, Nick washes the dishes and the two of them are allowed to leave the restaurant unmolested.
While the mood between Charlotte and Luis continues to deteriorate, Eva and Nick come together for the first time. After a night in the open air, they kiss passionately while they sleep. However, they stop this immediately after recognizing the other. Shortly afterwards, Nick discovers Charlotte and Luis in a passing gondola. A world is collapsing for him. Since he knows his wife's tastes, he finds the right hotel for them both. However, he is rudely removed from the hotel by the staff, pointing out that "the real" Nick Leonhard would already be living here. When the children get hungry again, there is another argument between Eva and the bad-tempered Nick. Eva then leaves him with the children, but without money to buy food for Florian and Rosa. Nick has a bad conscience. He moves his pocket watch to get groceries and follows Eva and the children. Eva is touched by the gesture, as Nick could have traveled back to Munich with the money. Nick claims he would have done that too had the money been enough.
After waiting for hours in front of the hotel, Nick Florian buys a tourist T-shirt and lets him cry in the hotel claim that he is the son of Charlotte Leonhard. Then Florian is given the room key with the hint that an employee would take him up to the room right away. Distracted by another hotel guest, the receptionist doesn't notice that Florian is walking to Nick and Eva with the key. You finally get to the hotel and your room via the back entrance. In the face of the whole situation, Eva had a nervous breakdown, as a result of which the break-in was discovered and the four of them were again expelled from the hotel.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and Luis are walking through the city. While Luis only talks and wants to celebrate about his own gallery and a successful business idea, Charlotte is visibly annoyed. She leaves Luis and goes back to the hotel alone.
In order not to have to sleep outside in the cold again, Eva, Nick and the children get into an empty house. After the children fell asleep, Eva discovers a piano and starts playing again. Nick listens reverently to the game and asks Eva why she hasn't turned her talent into a career long ago. Eva gives her two children as reasons. She used to make a living from playing the piano in a bar where Luis was a regular. This is how the two got to know and love each other. For her family, however, Eva gave up her dream. Nick also talks about his career. After graduating from high school and studying in record time with excellent grades, he started in a first-class law firm . But he admits that he is lonely again and again and that his life is boring. His poor life as a child was seen as the driving force behind his success. The parents, both singers, went around with their son. Nick hated this life and left home when he was 16, wanting to lead a normal, middle-class life. His father could not understand this wish and simply shook hands with his son in parting before he turned around and left. However, a discussion between the two was no longer possible because Nick's father died shortly afterwards. Nick has not gotten over this farewell to this day. He tells Eva that if his father had just turned back to him, he would have stayed at home with his family. After these open conversations, Eva and Nick get closer again and sleep together.
The next morning the last day began in Venice. Charlotte has since separated from Luis. They decide to go back to their spouses, even if they don't seem to love them anymore. Nick has now been able to get new passports and money at the embassy. In addition, his law firm has sent him the documents for the upcoming court hearing, which Eva notes with disappointment, since he is now the old man again. Nick points out to Eva that this is his job and offers her to get plane tickets to Munich for her and the children. Eva tells him that she cannot repay him, to which Nick replies that she has already done so. Hurt, Eva replies that she slept with him for free, takes the children and walks away. Nick feels misunderstood and is now offended too. They meet again at a boat dock and, both deeply hurt in their feelings, treat each other extremely coldly.
By chance, the two are discovered on the passing boat by Charlotte and Luis, who then follow them in a boat taxi and draw attention to themselves by saying that they can explain all of this. At the next stop, Nick, Eva and the children say goodbye. Rosa wants to be kidnapped by Nick again, which Nick, apparently cured of his child allergy, does. Rosa then speaks her first words and tells Nick that she loves him. Eva takes note of this, touched, but looks into Nick's petrified face. Sadly, she packs up her belongings and leaves the boat without a word. On the jetty she meets Charlotte, who is getting on, who punishes her with a cold look.
The two couples now meet again in their original form. Nick, however, pays little attention to his wife and instead observes rigidly as Luis talks to Eva on land. He murmurs as he asks her to turn to him only once. Meanwhile, Luis asks Eva for forgiveness and promises her to change. In this way, she should be able to live out her artistic dream in the future. However, Eva does not want a reconciliation with Luis and leaves him standing. Nick and Charlotte are following this closely. Nick mumbles again and asks Eva to turn around to him, which she doesn't do. In desperation, he calls for her, whereupon she stops. Nods, tears up his attorney's documents and throws them into water. He turns to Charlotte one last time and tells her that neither he nor she were happy in this marriage. Then he climbs onto the railing and, calling for Eva, jumps into the water. Luis rushes to Eva and assures her once again that he will change and that she would need. After Nick calls her out of the water and says he loves her, Eva leaves Luis for good and jumps into the water with Nick. She swims to him and the two hug happily.
financing
The film had a budget of 4.3 million DM .
reception
Reviews
“Eva's car winds its way through the Alps with difficulty, and this comedy works through a chain of major and minor catastrophes that appears to be very constructed. […] Naefes montage principle is a relatively regular change of image between the two couples who grow apart in Venice or find each other on the way there. There is no shortage of implausible scenes [...]. It is certainly not due to the commitment of these two actors in particular that “2 men, 2 women” has more than four problems. Problems with the balance between restraint and exaggeration, between naturalness and artificiality. Problems with situation comedy that looks worn and is often closer to a piece of clothing than Naefes' alleged affinity with Woody Allen would lead one to expect. "
“Two couples: here student makeshift bohemians, there neoconservatism. Because the waitress (Aglaia Szyszkowitz) wants to prove to the lawyer (Heino Ferch) that their respective wives share a mattress, she takes him to the scene of the adultery: Venice, how beautiful. For this husband-napping, director Vivian Naefe spends two thirds of the film time, a number of old - and, admittedly, a few nice new - gags and the patience of the audience, because they soon suspect what will overtake the two dupes in the city of love: Amore. How nice."
Web links
- 2 men, 2 women - 4 problems !? in the Internet Movie Database (English)