Peter Simonischek

The false teeth in Toni Erdmann (2016) are an obvious invitation to laugh, but Peter Simonischek does not let them do all the work. As Winfried, the father who tries to reconnect with his daughter through pranks, he makes it difficult to separate concern from the pleasure of being noticed. His comic timing gives the intrusion its appeal. Then there is the question of what his daughter is supposed to do with him. We were touched by his efforts to reach her, because Simonischek lets the affection show through behaviour that remains awkward and intrusive.

For Simonischek, the film brought international recognition after decades of German-language stage and television work. He had played the title role in Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival from 2002 to 2009, a sustained exercise in physical presence and control of the voice. The pranks are played with a precision that makes sense after so much stage work. His later screen work includes Admiral Vyacheslav Grudzinsky in Thomas Vinterberg's Kursk (2018), as his international film career widened.

Maren Ade gives that performance a necessary check in Sandra Hüller's Ines. Her working life in Bucharest matters to the film, and Hüller makes the effort of concentrating on it legible even when she is impatient with her father. Simonischek's warmth is persuasive enough that an easier comedy might have treated her resistance as the problem. Here, his wish to get closer does not automatically make him right. The two actors keep us interested in both sides of an encounter, which is why we can enjoy his disruption and still want him to stop.

A few of Ade's extended exchanges test our patience, and even Simonischek's comic invention cannot make every extra minute necessary. The performance is worth that patience because he never makes the father so winning that we forget the demands he places on his daughter. Start with Toni Erdmann, and give Hüller as much attention as the man trying to interrupt her.