In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 36 wins & 22 nominations total
- Mutter Christiane Kerner
- (as Katrin Saß)
- Alex - 11 Jahre
- (as Nico Ledermüller)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe story is loosely based on the last two years of Vladimir Lenin's life, living in a controlled environment similar to what is portrayed in the film. With the justification that over-excitement might cause Lenin health problems, Joseph Stalin had printed for him one-copy edition newspapers, censored of all news about the political struggles of the time.
- GoofsDenis wears a "digital rain"-style T-shirt in 1989 because he has developed the idea himself and has come up with an idea for a film exactly like The Matrix (1999), which he describes in a deleted scene (the letters are not identical to the Matrix scheme.) The joke is that the idea originated in East Germany; compare the claim in one of Denis's fake news shows that the Coca-Cola formula was invented there. It also ties in to the film's main theme of keeping people in a simulated reality.
- Quotes
[last lines]
[spoiler]
Alexander Kerner: [voiceover] My mother outlived the GDR by three days. I believe it was a good thing she never learned the truth. She died happy. She wanted us to scatter her ashes to the winds. That's prohibited in Germany, both East and West. But we didn't care.
[launches rocket]
Alexander Kerner: She's up there somewhere now. Maybe looking down at us. Maybe she sees us as tiny specks on the Earth's surface, just like Sigmund Jähn did back then. The country my mother left behind was a country she believed in; a country we kept alive till her last breath; a country that never existed in that form; a country that, in my memory, I will always associate with my mother.
- Crazy creditsRenowned German actor Jürgen Vogel plays the chicken in the supermarket and is credited as "Das Küken" ("young chicken").
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)
- SoundtracksMocca-Milch-Eisbar
Written by Thomas Natschinski and Hartmut König
Kathrin, a woman who has dedicated her life to the perpetuation of Communist Party ideology, suffers a major heart attack that plunges her into a comatose state a few months prior to the dissolution of the land she knows as East Germany. While she is 'asleep,' governments tumble, barriers crumble and a whole new tide of Western goods and values comes flooding eastwards to a ravenous, eagerly awaiting public. Then she wakes up. Fearing that the shock of finding such a radically changed world will lead to a second heart attack, her loving son, Alex, devises an elaborate scheme to shield her from the truth and to make her believe that the world she lives in now is the same world she knew eight months before (the basic premise is not that different from the one in 'Jacob the Liar').
'Good Bye Lenin!' is an amusing regional comedy that derives its laughs from two basic sources: the near-slapstick nature of the charade Alex is attempting to perpetrate, and the script's satirical view of a society rushing madly to embrace the joys of unbridled consumerism they have been so long denied. Given its gimmicky premise, 'Good Bye Lenin!' could have emerged as a one-joke comedy were it not for the fine sense of irony and absurdity that writer/director Wolfgang Becker (working with co-writer Bernd Lichtenberg) has brought to the project. In addition, young Daniel Bruhl as Alex and Katrin Sab as Kathrin deliver expert, moving performances that go to the very essence of the mother/child relationship.
I must confess that this film, despite its generally upbeat tone, brings with it a certain rueful sadness that the filmmakers may not exactly have intended. Could it really have been a mere fifteen years ago that the events depicted in this film actually happened - a mere fifteen years ago that the future of the human race seemed so full of joy, hope and promise? Now, in a post 9/11 world - where sectarian hatred and international terrorism rule the day - this image of people coming together to cast off the shackles of bondage and embrace freedom seems already like a quaint memory from the long distant past. In a strange way, the film has become something of a relic in its own time, outstripped by a world that has long since moved on to bigger and more dire concerns. 'Good Bye Lenin' reminds us of just how long ago and far away the Cold War really was.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Goodbye Lenin!
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- €4,800,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,064,200
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $57,968
- Feb 29, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $79,316,957
- Runtime2 hours 1 minute
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1