DAS PUBERTIER

She was sweet, she was cute. But just before her 14th birthday, Daddy’s little princess mutates into a pe­tulant pubescent nightmare. Journalist Hannes Wenger decides to take a time-out from work to guide his daughter Carla through this difficult phase in her life and, above all, to keep her away from alcohol, boys and other temptations. This is easier said than done, however, and when his wife Sara goes back to work, Hannes proves himself entirely inept at raising a teenager. Whether it’s Carla’s birthday party, her mobile phone contract or her first time, Hannes makes one awkward blunder after another. The fact that other teens have embarrassing fathers provides only faint consolation; Hannes’ best friend is a war reporter named Holger who prefers to be shot at in war zones rather than stay at home and be driven crazy by his own teenage nightmare.

The film is based on Jan Weiler’s best-selling German novel Das Pubertier and is published in English as Teenosaurus Rex.

Director

LEANDER HAUßMANN was born in Quedlinburg in 1959. After attending the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art in Berlin, he acted in the theater for several years before becoming a director. He was the artistic director of Bochum’s Schauspielhaus from 1995-2000, during which time he appeared in Detlev Buck’s film JAILBIRDS. His big breakthrough as a film director came with SUN ALLEY (2000), followed by BERLIN BLUES (2003), NVA (2005), INTRIGUE AND LOVE (TV, 2005), WHY MEN DON’T LISTEN AND WOMEN CAN’T READ MAPS (2007), ROBERT ZIMMERMANN IS TANGLED UP IN LOVE (2008), HOTEL LUX (2011), SHARK ALARM AT MÜGGELSEE (2013), and TEENOSAURUS REX (2017).

Leander Haußmann (photo © Bernd Schuller) photos © Constantin Film Verleih