Maren Ade makes embarrassment funny without dismissing the person who wants it to stop. We rate her highly for taking both sides of an awkward encounter seriously, even when she lets it run too long.
Fi1m perspective
A father tries to get through to his adult daughter by embarrassing her, though she has work to do and would prefer another approach. In Toni Erdmann (2016), Ade makes both of them understandable. We laughed, then felt for the daughter, because the father's concern does not make his behaviour any less selfish. Ade lets that discomfort persist without telling us which of them needs correcting. It is a funny, warm film that takes the daughter's objections seriously.
Her feature work begins with The Forest for the Trees (2003), followed by the relationship drama Everyone Else (2009). Across these films and Toni Erdmann, she writes as well as directs, returning to the roles people adopt with those closest to them. The wider international attention that came with Toni Erdmann did not require her to abandon those concerns. She also produces, working with Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach through Komplizen Film.
In Toni Erdmann, her screenplay avoids the easy assumption that the unconventional parent understands life better than the disciplined child. The daughter's professional pressures have weight; the job is not simply there to explain why she needs rescuing. Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek make these awkward encounters hurt without losing the humour, so that affection remains visible even when the behaviour is hard to bear. Ade does not have to stop for a lecture about family because their competing demands are clear.
That willingness to stay with embarrassment is also where we occasionally lose patience with her. A few exchanges in Toni Erdmann continue after the discomfort has told us enough, and their extra length adds little. Yet the film's generosity is worth the wait: the father can be worried about his daughter and still owe her better behaviour. Start with Toni Erdmann for the actors, and stay with it for the daughter's right to find her father exhausting.
Biography
Maren Ade is a German film director, screenwriter and producer. She was born on 12 December 1976 in Karlsruhe and studied film direction at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), graduating in 2004. In 2001 she co-founded the production company Komplizen Film with Janine Jackowski.
Ade’s feature films include The Forest for the Trees (2003), Everyone Else (2009) and Toni Erdmann (2016), on which she also served as screenwriter and producer. Toni Erdmann premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
She has produced films by other directors, including Tabu (2012). Ade is married to director Ulrich Köhler.
