In “Toni Erdmann,” a very good and peculiar comedy from Germany’s Maron Ade, a father subjects his high-strung adult daughter to a kind of unexpected — and clearly unwanted — shock therapy, using joke-shop fake teeth, a fright wig and a freakish sense of humor as tools of enlightenment. The aim is to raise her consciousness about the personal cost of her immersion in the corporate world. While the film gets lots of mileage from the comedy of embarrassment, it’s much more — more complex, affecting, absurd, surprising and funny than a bare plotline suggests. The movie isn’t just about the getting of wisdom, but has a lot of interesting and uncomfortable things to say about the relationship of children and parents, especially as the latter are getting into the three-score-and-ten range. Director Ade (2009’s “Everyone Else”) is aware that Winfried may have mixed motives, not all of them positive. All this helps move the film — which is Germany’s submission for best foreign language movie — beyond a simple comedy, as does the director’s refusal to objectify Ines’ sufferings. [...] there’s much that’s seriously unfunny about her worklife. [...] despite her growing annoyance at her dad’s provocations, she has a genuine affection for him. [...] there are numerous enjoyable and touching set pieces, including an off-the-wall nude party scene that perfectly demonstrates why the film is about more than an extended — very extended — prank.
Toni Erdmann A Prankster With A Serious Goal
By Walter Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Entertainment
Wed, 01/18/2017 - 3:48pm
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