Good Bye Lenin!

2003
15
2h 1m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

155K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,976

111

Daniel Brühl and Chulpan Khamatova in Good Bye Lenin! (2003)

Play clip2:04

Watch Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: Title Treatment

6 Videos

99+ Photos

Satire Comedy Drama Romance

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

155K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,976

111

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 36 wins & 22 nominations total

Videos6

Clip 2:04

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: Title Treatment

Clip 2:26

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: Ready To Roll

Clip 2:26

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: Ready To Roll

Clip 1:01

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: East Vs. West

Clip 0:39

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: Restoring The Room

Clip 0:58

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: The Future Lay In Our Hands

Clip 1:10

Goodbye, Lenin! Scene: This Was Our Money

Photos131

+ 125

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The story is loosely based on the last two years of Vladimir Lenin's life, living in a controlled environment similar to what is portrayed in the film. With the justification that over-excitement might cause Lenin health problems, Joseph Stalin had printed for him one-copy edition newspapers, censored of all news about the political struggles of the time.

Goofs
Denis wears a "digital rain"-style T-shirt in 1989 because he has developed the idea himself and has come up with an idea for a film exactly like The Matrix (1999), which he describes in a deleted scene (the letters are not identical to the Matrix scheme.) The joke is that the idea originated in East Germany; compare the claim in one of Denis's fake news shows that the Coca-Cola formula was invented there. It also ties in to the film's main theme of keeping people in a simulated reality.

Quotes
Sigmund Jähn: Socialism doesn't mean live behind a Wall. Socialism means reach the others and live with the others.

Crazy credits
Renowned German actor Jürgen Vogel plays the chicken in the supermarket and is credited as "Das Küken" ("young chicken").

Connections
Featured in The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards (2004)

Soundtracks
Mocca-Milch-Eisbar
Written by Thomas Natschinski and Hartmut König

User reviews265

Review

Featured review

9/10

Excellent film

I didn't have too many expectations for this film. My partner pitched it to me as a comedy, and I hadn't seen the trailer in a while so I went into thinking that's all it would be. Instead, it really was a sublimely sophisticated film.

I had the good fortune to see East Berlin first in July 1989 (there was *ZERO* hint that the wall would be down in 4 months) and then in February 1990. It was an amazing before and after, and I thought this film captured this very well. As a visitor to the East for several months that year, this film really brought back to me the East European Quiet Revolution when everything really did change.

The characters going through that change are of course an allegory for the changes all around them- '40 years gone! They sold us up river!' says an old man who represents those who 'lost' in the reunification contrasted to those who won-the youth. Similarly, the contrast of personal re-unification (the children and their father) vs that of the east and west is a wonderfully treated theme through the film. And of course lies. Lies to comfort us, lies to deal with other lies. A very, very touching film.