MIFF 2016: German comedy Toni Erdmann takes embarrassing dads to a new level

By Stephanie Bunbury
Updated July 29 2016 - 12:16am, first published July 28 2016 - 1:46pm
Peter Simonischek (Winfried) and Sandra Huller (Ines) excel in hit German comedy <i>Toni Erdmann</I>. Photo: Theresa Ambrose
Peter Simonischek (Winfried) and Sandra Huller (Ines) excel in hit German comedy <i>Toni Erdmann</I>. Photo: Theresa Ambrose
A still from Maren Ade's 2009 film <i>Everyone Else</i>. Photo: Supplied
A still from Maren Ade's 2009 film <i>Everyone Else</i>. Photo: Supplied

"Where is it written in our DNA that parents are embarrassing?" muses Maren Ade. We are discussing her film Toni Erdmann, the break-out critical hit of Cannes Film festival. The feature centres on the fractured relationship between executive-suited Ines – ambitious, repressed, humourless, ruthless and brilliantly portrayed by German actor Sandra Huller – and the shaggy, lonely father who wants her to unbend and be the playmate she was as a child.

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