Images from Heimat 3 - Part 1 - The Happiest People In The World
Select thumbnail for full image gallery.
Heimat 3 - Part 1 - The Happiest People In The World (15)
- Consumer Advice: Contains strong sex
- Run time: 1 hour 46 mins
- Language: German
- Genre: Drama
- Release date: 1st January 2005
- Starring: Jorg Altmeyer, Jutta Altmeyer, Casper Arnhold
- Directed by: Edgar Reitz
- Distributor: Artificial Eye
Plot Synopsis
Hermann Simon and Clarissa Lichtblau run across one another again after many years on the historical evening of 9 November 1989. The former lovers fall into each others arms in a Berlin hotel lounge while all around is the euphoria as the fall of the Berlin Wall is celebrated at the Brandenburger Tor. Hermann has become a well known conductor and Clarissa a celebrated singer, but they have only ever lived out of suitcases and led a hectic but, in the end, lonely existence. They make love in a hotel room while the television broadcasts the scenes of jubilation in the East and the West. While they are enquiring about each other’s lives, Clarissa tells of a place she yearns for, a house in which she would happily have wanted to live with him, he who she has never been able to forget. Hermann is inspired and sets off with her the very same night.
Travelling through the DDR and then West Germany, they change drivers and Hermann falls asleep in the passenger seat. He wakes up to find himself in his homeland again. Clarissa’s dream house is situated in winegrowing slope above the Rhine, directly opposite the Lorelei Rock. Hermann knows every inch of the area. He is both delighted and alarmed at the same time. Nearby is Schabbach, his childhood village which he had left as a young man full of anger and pain in the hope of finding a free life in the city of Munich where he could realise his artistic dreams. He would never have wanted to return here again. But Clarissa’s dream house and the idea of living there with her beguile him. The romantic old timber-framed house, which they buy together, is in ruins, however. It needs to be completely restored.
While, despite his reservations, Hermann visits his village and his brothers Ernst and Anton, Clarissa travels to Leipzig. Although her concert in the Leipzig at the Gewandhaus Music Hall is cancelled due to one of the Monday demonstrations, she meets two labourers, Gunnar and Udo. The two young men are immediately willing to repair the ruined house earning West Marks in the lovely Rhine area. Two more Saxons are taken on: Tobi, a church restorer and Tillmann, an electrician. The happiness of the new start in 1989 is all embracing. The Günderrode-House - named after a romantic poet who is supposed to have lived there - becomes the setting for new friendships and reunions. The young Saxons prove to be excellent handymen. Hermann and Clarissa become friends with them and they all decide to spend the first unified German Christmas together in Munich where Hermann still has his old apartment.
As successful musicians Clarissa and Hermann are continually away from one another due to their musical engagements and write longing letters to each other when on the road, while the building work at Günderrode-House continues. Gunnar is dealt a heavy blow during a Christmas excursion to the Zugspitze. His wife Petra has fallen in love with Hermann’s agent, Rheinhold, and leaves him. Distraught and hurt, Gunnar returns to the building site on the Rhine. New Year’s Eve in Berlin is a jubilant celebration for the reunified Germans. Gunnar stays at home alone.