He could have had women, he could have climbed the ladder of his accountancy career, and he could have stood on the podium next to the highest in the land. If only he had wanted to! But Farssmann, shaken by divorce and unwilling to better himself, wants to remain what he is: an ordinary bookkeeper like you and me. And so the dollar deal with Mr. Osbar from Utah (USA) is not the first time he comes into conflict with the very palpable unreality of a country called the German Democratic Republic.
Acting
Gwisdek's magnificent inertia—charisma through refusal.
Production
The rotting grandeur of late-GDR architecture as character.
Director
Roland Oehme
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Chris Howland, who plays the American businessman, was actually a famous British-German TV presenter—his casting adds meta-layer of Western media intrusion.
Released months before reunification, it captures a GDR that already knew it was ending—making Farssmann's stubbornness feel almost prophetic.
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