Good Bye, Lenin! (2004)
94%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
36 wins & 23 nominations total
Heartfelt and sly, Good Bye, Lenin! succeeds as a satire by foregrounding the personal before the political, yielding a charming comedy full of sociopolitical insight.
Good Bye Lenin! is a hilarious and heartwarming film that takes a satirical look at the fall of Communism in East Germany. The story follows a family who goes to great lengths to keep their mother, who has just woken up from a coma, from finding out that the Berlin Wall has fallen and the world has changed. The film is filled with clever jokes and witty commentary on the political climate of the time. It’s a must-watch for anyone who loves a good comedy with a touch of history. Plus, who doesn’t love a good sitcom-style hoax?
Production Company(ies)
X-Filme Creative Pool Westdeutscher Rundfunk ARTE
Distributor
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Alexanderplatz, Mitte, Berlin, Germany
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for brief language and sexuality
Year of Release
2004
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 1m
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Language(s):German, English, Russian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 9, 2003 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2004
Genre(s)
Comedy
Keyword(s)
Worldwide gross: $79,316,957
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $125,121,422
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 916
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 13,644,648
US/Canada gross: $4,064,200
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $6,411,220
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,739
US/Canada opening weekend: $57,968
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $91,444
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,966
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): 4800000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $7,571,935
Production budget ranking: 1,766
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $4,077,487
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $113,472,000
ROI to date (est.): 974%
ROI ranking: 128
Maria Simon – Ariane Kerner
Chulpan Khamatova – Lara
Florian Lukas – Denis
Alexander Beyer – Rainer
Michael Gwisdek – Direktor Klapprath
Director(s)
Wolfgang Becker
Writer(s)
Wolfgang Becker, Bernd Lichtenberg
Producer(s)
Stefan Arndt
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award
36 wins & 23 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (111) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (100) | Rotten (11)
German writer-director Wolfgang Becker creates an intriguing story of a family traumatized by politics, then lets it drift off into an elaborate sitcom-style hoax …
June 29, 2022
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Non-Germans will certainly get the essence of the humor but may find the movie long and repetitive.
July 21, 2004
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
TOP CRITIC
Charming and eventually poignant.
May 13, 2004 | Rating: B-
Eleanor Ringel Cater
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TOP CRITIC
A funny movie that rises above farce to the level of sophisticated satire.
April 23, 2004 | Rating: 4/5
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
It is a sweethearted comedy about the fall of Communism and the lingering nostalgia for an East Germany that no longer exists.
April 22, 2004 | Rating: 3/5
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
The film seems overlong and drawn out, with variations on the same joke occurring throughout.
April 11, 2004 | Rating: 2.5/5
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
While the finale might be a bit neat and tidy for some, Good Bye Lenin! still manages to be a political comedy with a heart and a conscience.
December 17, 2021 | Rating: 4/5
Alistair Lawrence
Common Sense Media
A film of great history, great poetry, and great power.
September 9, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4.0
Richard Propes
TheIndependentCritic.com
“Good bye, Lenin!” is a wonder of a film with humor and heart and political savvy to spare. Don’t miss it.
January 2, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Deborah Hornblow
Hartford Courant
combines fairytale elements with actual documentary footage, and the personal with the political, creating a contemporary allegory of the dreams and delusions upon which the lives of East Germans were sustained.
June 11, 2013
Anton Bitel
Daily Info
Succeeds as a comedy, as a glimpse at a tumultuous time in European history, and as a thoughtful look at the great lengths to which people will go for important relationships.
November 1, 2006 | Rating: 3/4
Angie Ward
Christianity Today
The influx of Western culture may have been inevitable, but thanks to this charming film, we see that there was plenty in the East worth saving.
October 29, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4
Betsy Bozdech
DVDJournal.com…
Plot
East Germany, the year 1989: A young man protests against the regime. His mother watches the police arresting him and suffers a heart attack and falls into a coma. Some months later, the DDR does not exist anymore and the mother awakes. Since she has to avoid every excitement, the son tries to set up the DDR again for her in their flat. But the world has changed a lot.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Daniel Brühl, who plays the lead character Alex Kerner, is also known for his roles in Inglourious Basterds and Captain America: Civil War.
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