Good Bye Lenin! (2003) on Netflix
Christiane Kerner falls into a coma after seeing her son Alex arrested at a demonstration in East Berlin. Months later she wakes, and Alex hides the fall of the Wall from her.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.7/10160,906 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
In East Berlin, Christiane Kerner has raised her children Ariane and Alex alone since her husband Robert left for the West, and she is devoted to the socialist cause. In October 1989 she sees Alex arrested at an anti-government demonstration and suffers a heart attack, falling into a coma. While she is unconscious the Berlin Wall falls and capitalism arrives in East Berlin. Alex takes a job installing satellite dishes; Ariane leaves university to work at Burger King and moves her manager Rainer into the apartment. Christiane wakes after eight months, still weak, and her doctor warns that any shock could be fatal. Alex resolves to keep the changes from her and restores the family's old East German furniture and clothing, and those around him go along with the deception.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The character who changed most between drafts was Denis: first written as an overweight Turkish boy to be married off against his will, he was cut down from a main character to a side character and turned into an amateur filmmaker.
- Good Bye, Lenin!'s release set off a new wave of Ostalgie: cinemas put staff in Free German Youth shirts and red scarves, and businesses sold GDR memorabilia plus books, music and games of the Ossi era.
- Screenwriter Lichtenberg wrote the first drafts of Good Bye, Lenin! himself, but completing the script took six drafts plus a few interim versions.
- The piano piece "Comptine d'un autre été : L'après-midi" is used in both Good Bye, Lenin! and Yann Tiersen's earlier Amélie soundtrack, which the film's music closely resembles.
