Pappa ante Portas

Heinrich Lohse is a purchasing manager at a company. Wanting to economise, he calculates that buying in bulk will bring a discount and orders forty tons of writing paper. The company retires him early. Heinrich goes home. He does not know what to do there and finds a great deal to correct: the shopping is done wrongly, the kitchen is inefficient, his wife's friends are unnecessary. He interferes with everything. His wife Renate cannot bear it and the balance of the household breaks. Loriot writes, directs and plays the lead. Evelyn Hamann plays Renate. Loriot was known in Germany as a cartoonist and television humorist; he made only two films and this is the second. The humour is built on the small absurdities of daily life; nobody shouts and everything is done with excessive politeness. The structure is episodic; the scenes work like independent sketches, which comes from the writer's television background. The shapes of German domestic life are the real subject and the narrative shows them without exaggeration. Evelyn Hamann and Loriot worked together for many years and the fit between them carries the film. It is considered a classic in Germany and its lines entered everyday speech. Who it is for: viewers who like German humour and quiet comedy. Who it is not for: the humour depends on language and culture, the plot is weak, and the pace is slow.