Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke

Joachim's older brother is killed in a road accident. Not long after, he applies to a distinguished drama school in Munich and, to his own surprise, is accepted. He has nowhere to stay in the city and moves into his grandparents' villa. Both of them are eccentric: the grandfather is a retired philosophy professor, the grandmother a former actress, and dinner begins at a fixed hour with a cocktail. Simon Verhoeven writes and directs, from Joachim Meyerhoff's novel of the same name, published in 2015; it is the second volume of the autobiographical series. Bruno Alexander plays the young Joachim. Senta Berger, Verhoeven's mother, plays the grandmother, and Michael Wittenborn the grandfather. The subject is in the title: not the loss but the gap the loss leaves. Joachim never speaks about his brother, and the narrative builds that silence as a scene in itself; the acting classes and the grief run in the same room. The tone stays on the comic side. The grandparents' daily life, their drinking habits and the way they talk are the passages that work best. It opened in Germany on 29 January 2026 and was nominated at the 2026 German Film Awards for best director, best screenplay, best lead actor and best sound design. Who it is for: viewers who like German literary adaptation and films that carry grief and comedy together. Who it is not for: the narrative proceeds in episodes, there is no dramatic centre, and some transitions feel abrupt without the book.