Early on, we see flashbacks showing our hero as a little boy (Nico Ledermuller), illustrating how devoted to the Communist Party his mother (Katrin Saβ) is. She's recently broken-hearted, after her husband has fled to the west, and, after a brief catatonic state, becomes determined to raise her children in the best East Germany that she can.
On the eve of the Berlin Wall being torn down, Bruhl's mother collapses when she sees him being arrested as a protestor. She goes into a coma and does not wake up from it until after the wall is gone and freedom is on the march. The doctor tells Bruhl any minor shock could cause his mother to relapse and possibly die. Knowing the Brave New World will likely frighten his mother to death, Bruhl conspires with his sister (Maria Simon) and neighbors to make it look like East Germany and communism are still intact, as long as he can.
It's a funny and intriguing premise, and fairly well executed, but you're probably wondering where the romance is. Well, Bruhl does fall for his mother's beautiful but no-nonsense nurse (Chulpan Khamatova) and a romance does blossom, but I have to admit I was kind of wondering why this showed up on a romance list.
The greatest love story here is between mother and son, and it's actually portrayed nicely, though not normally what you'd think of when it comes to romance.
Perhaps the greatest weaknesses of the film lie in director Becker's stylistic flourishes, all obvious references to other (greater) filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick and Danny Boyle. He's clearly a student of cinema history, and clearly an enthusiastic director, but maybe a little too obvious. The movie's fun and inviting but if Becker's trying to score movie nerd points, he's trying a little too hard.
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