Toni Erdmann (15)

Ines’s father employs his ultra-tacky alter ego to gain a better relationship with his corporate daughter.

Winfried (Peter Simonischek) and Ines (Sandra Hüller) are father and daughter. And while they may have similar genes, that’s just about where their similarities end.

He is a life-loving practical joker, while she is a corporate strategist who’s either attending a meeting or buried under paperwork.

To have a better father-daughter relationship, Winfried pays her a surprise visit in Bucharest, poking fun at her corporate lifestyle to get her to liven up a bit. Unsuccessful, Winfried returns home to Germany.

But Ines’s dad won’t stop there in his pursuit of a meaningful relationship with his daughter. Winfried unleashes his tacky alter ego, Toni Erdmann, a silly suit wearing, weird wig adorning, problem solver.

In disguise as none other than her boss’s life coach, he not so much worms, but barges his way into her inner work circle, not holding back an inch.

Meeting her father’s challenge, they push each other harder than ever before, but will Ines begin to see a place for her unusual father amidst her busy working life?

Starring Simonischek and Hüller in the lead roles, Toni Erdmann is directed by Maren Ade, known for her work on Everyone Else and The Forest for the Trees.

German and Romanian with English subtitles.

Cert: 15

Running time: 162 mins