Today on ARD: "Never too late" – Heino Ferch shines in the first

A tragi-comic family drama worth seeing is running in the first. Heino Ferch plays a flight captain who finally has to learn how to be a good father.

Frankfurt – A man has to learn what really counts in life: that doesn’t sound particularly original at first. The personal constellation in the ARD film is not exactly unusual either: For flight captain Paul Langner (Heino Ferch), his career always came first. It didn’t do his various relationships any good; he is now married for the third time. When his wife Susanne (Picco von Groote), who is around twenty years his junior, hears the biological clock ticking, Paul agrees to an agreement that he will bitterly regret five years later: he is to take early retirement at the end of his fifties and take care of their child take care of it so that Susanne can return to her job.

When the time comes, however, Paul’s boss does not want to forego his experience in “Nie zu Spät” (ARD) and even offers him to take over the company’s largest passenger plane. Susanne reacted as was to be expected: she is outraged that he is not keeping the agreement, leaves the home they share in Munich and gives him a week to think it over. When the next morning, out of the blue, Paul’s children Jonas (22) and Tabea (17) from his first two marriages also show up at the door, he has no choice but to finally learn to be a real father.

“Never too late” today in the first: the main character is dismantled in the first half

Basically, “Never Too Late” is an ARD variation of the popular tragi-comic narrative scheme “Suddenly Papa”. In these films, single people become fathers almost overnight because, for example, they have to take care of the children of deceased siblings. These are usually life artists or men who have so far lived exclusively for their job; like Paul. Sarah Schnier’s screenplay does without the tragic component, but the fall is similar, especially since the film happily dismantles its main character in the first half and Heino Ferch pulls out all the stops to portray Paul as an egocentric who doesn’t understand at all that Susanne not happy about his next career move. So there is definitely a little glee in play when the pilot fails at the simplest tasks of a householder. All of that, however, is banter compared to the blow the author gives him when he mocks the quirks of childless older women in conversation with his boss; promptly the dream of the 747 bursts.

Of course, Schnier took the character to the extreme, but that was the challenge for Ferch: despite all the self-centeredness, the pilot, who also behaves like a captain at home, still has to retain a certain amount of sympathy so that the change he’s going through in the runs through the second half of the film does not seem completely implausible. Psychologically, the screenplay uses a simple trick: Paul himself once suffered from a producer whom he apparently couldn’t please. Instead of being a better father to his children, he wasn’t one to them at all; it is therefore clear how the story will continue. Nevertheless, the events that follow are not as expected as they seem, because Paul is confronted with further challenges: Jonas and Tabea have serious problems; and they also have something to do with himself.

“Never too late” today in the first: Approaches between father and children are not artificial

Films with Heino Ferch are never a waste of time, Picco von Groote is also worth seeing as the self-confident woman at Paul’s side, and that is why it is above all the performances of Pablo Grant and Harriet Herbig-Matten that make “Never Too Late” a special film . However, both also benefit from great roles: Jonas suffers from anxiety, which he attributes to the unclear relationship with his father. Tabea is supposed to graduate from high school, but is aiming for an apprenticeship as a mechanic. Her mother wants to send her to a boarding school; Paul is their last hope. The injuries to her forearm are an eloquent illustration of the burden the girl is carrying.

Thanks to the sensitivity of everyone involved, the film cleverly avoids making the approach between the father and his children seem artificial: Paul decides to take Tabea back to her mother in Frankfurt in his neighbor’s mobile home, Jonas and little Franz come with him; Road movies have always been used primarily for self-discovery. Schnier has already written for Ferch the tragic comedy “My Son Helen” (2015), which was also commissioned by the ARD subsidiary Degeto and is no less worth seeing; With experienced comedy director Tomy Wiegand, your screenplay is in the best of hands. (Tilmann P. Gangloff)

Heino Ferch was also able to convince as a commissioner: In “A girl is missing” he is looking for a 14-year-old girl as chief investigator Ingo Thiel.