Revolution in Niederkaltenkirchen. Grandma no longer wants to cook and clean. And Susi wants to make a career and not always stand at the back as a caring mother to regulate the everyday family chaos.
Difficult times for the village policeman Franz Eberhofer, his father and his brother Leopold, since in the previous eight films of the “Eberhofer” series they sat in the made nest and were able to do extensive navel-gazing. This is the end of the crime comedy “Rehragout-Rendezvous”. The men have to lend a hand because Susi and Grandma don’t want to be enslaved any longer.
“Perhaps it was overdue that the most important female characters take up more space,” says producer Kerstin Schmidbauer about the new comedy, which is based on the 11th volume of Rita Falk’s crime series.
This becomes clear on the poster, on which only Eberhofer actor Sebastian Bezzel and Simon Schwarz alias private detective Rudi Birkenberger could be seen. This time, too, they investigate together in a missing person case that turns out to be a murder. Lisa Maria Potthoff also joins them on the new film poster as a self-confident Susi in a business look.
So new times in the “Eberhofer” universe? no The discussions in the film are old. That mothers work and men take out the garbage and diaper the children – in many relationships it has long been part of everyday life. Eberhofer reveals himself to be quite old-fashioned in view of his horror that he should cut back on his job in order to be able to look after his son Pauli more. The debates about the fair division of work and household also seem to have left their mark on his father (Eisi Gulp) and brother Leonard (Gerhard Wittmann).
Women dare the revolution
Women no longer want to accept that. Enzi Fuchs as Grandma dares to protest – once again wonderfully mischievous and tough – and yet fragile. Potthoff plays quick-witted as usual and stands up to the men all around unimpressed. But the screenplay sets limits to her character’s self-confidence.
Susi doesn’t exactly look like the spearhead of emancipation when she staggers into her new role as deputy mayor of the fictional village in Lower Bavaria in a pink Barbie costume. The cliché of an inexperienced woman who doesn’t really know how to fill this space at first. It’s reassuring that she finally finds a taste for being in charge and discovers her professional ambition.
“Rehragout-Rendezvous” takes the film series in a different direction. More women’s power, less tolerance for men’s airs and graces. Fans of the stupid sayings and the slapstick still get their money’s worth. There is a lot of parodistic macho posturing and shallow jokes, not least at the expense of Franz, who feels pressured by Susi’s ambitions, right down to the most intimate areas.
A circumstance that drives butcher Simmerl (Stephan Zinner), landlord Wolfi (Max Schmidt) and Flötzinger (Daniel Christensen) so much that they want to help him to rediscover his masculinity.
The change of perspective is good for the story, even if some jokes are no longer fresh. Nevertheless, the film is also good as a signal to the male world: Even in the furthest corners, it is no longer easy to nestle in the macho niche.
Rehragout-Rendezvous, Germany 2023, 97 minutes, FSK from 12, by Ed Herzog, with Sebastian Bezzel, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Enzi Fuchs and Simon Schwarz
