The Butthead

Sophie (Aglaia Szyszkowitz) has everything firmly under control. Or so she thinks. She takes care of her son Linus (Arsseni Bultmann) and her pubescent daughter Laura (Emilie Neumeister), runs the household and has two jobs to boot. Because of a huge number of unpaid parking tickets, the single mother finally ends up in court. The sentence: 300 hours of community service in an inpatient care facility for the disabled.
Her care case Georg (Roeland Wiesnekker), a former competitive athlete who became a wheelchair user due to a car accident, is a real pain in the ass: always in a bad mood, he isolates himself from the outside world and cynically loses himself in self-pity. Sophie, annoyed, begins to really “do her compulsory hours” and initially ignores Georg’s vicious insults. But at some point Sophie has had enough and simply abandons Georg. After all kinds of heated power plays between the two, Sophie’s son Linus finally succeeds in doing the impossible: The boy reminds Georg of his past as a triathlete and awakens a new life energy in him. Sophie’s idea of taking part in a wheelchair marathon sounds absurd at first. Georg initially refuses reluctantly, until he is seized by the idea of an absurd bet with Sophie: He wants Sophie to take part in the marathon as well and demands a unique wager if he wins.
Their daily training together bonds the two more and more. They develop an increasingly intimate relationship and eventually discover that they are united by more than mere friendship. But Sophie’s life is turbulent enough, how can she still enter into a relationship with a man who needs constant help in everyday life? When Sophie decides to see reason and move in with the children to live with the wealthy and well-endowed Jacques (Martin Rapold), this initially means a bitter setback for Georg. Hurt, he turns away from Sophie and continues to train alone for the marathon …
While Georg leaves the others in the wheelchair far behind at the marathon and celebrates his comeback, Sophie sits with Jacques in the moving van. Was it the right decision?
“Der Kotzbrocken” is a production of Network Movie Film- und Fernsehproduktion, Jutta Lieck-Klenke, on behalf of ARD Degeto for Das Erste. The director is Tomy Wigand, the screenplay was written by Uli Brée. Claudia Luzius (ARD Degeto) is the editor.