Maren Ade directs Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller and Ingrid Bisu in this comedy about an ageing father, with a taste for pranks, who invades his estranged business executive daughter’s life with his infantile whimsy.
As a dual character study of two lonely people Toni Erdmann is rich and commendable for taking the road less travelled. As a comedy it often is chucklesome in its cringeworthyness. And as a satire of modern corporate life and the fag end of globalisation, it has some apt points. It is not a laugh riot however, is leisurely paced and the change in the protagonists is marked but somehow still ambiguous. Fans of arthouse will no doubt sift more out of it but I found it to be a satisfying one-watcher.
6
