The Best Day of My Life (2005)

A coming-of-age tale with a difference about the grumpy doctor Annebarbel Buschhaus donning her ice skates again at the age of 58 after an absence of 40 years. Back on the ice, she tries to revive long suppressed childhood dreams – and makes a new friend, Jolina Kuhn, Berlin’s youth figure skating champion. Through her new friend, Annebarbel begins to open up and break away from her dominant mother.

The middle-aged family man Hans-Christian (HC) left by his wife goes to Ireland for a short break with his old friends Wolfgang and Nic. He should win at Guinness bonfires and fishing trips distance to the chaos at home. HC has to learn to say no and need other women, his friends believe, to get rid of his loser habitus. In the already tense situation, old competition fights, outbursts of anger and self-pity quickly come up. And Nic and Wolfgang seem to have needed the time-out almost as much as HC.