Nails with heads

Lowland comedy about life and love in the North German provinces.

When the North German pastor Hans-Uwe Petersen (Peter Heinrich Brix) learns that his parish Toestrup is to be merged with the neighboring parish Norderup, he comes under pressure. He would like to take over responsibility for both villages, but the post is tied to one condition: he should finally marry his partner Petra Koslowski (Ulrike Kriener), with whom he lives in a wild marriage. Petra doesn’t think much of the idea – she doesn’t believe in God, nor does she see herself as a pastor’s wife organizing senior citizens’ afternoons and community flea markets.

But Provost Friederike Murrmann (Katharina Müller-Elmau) makes it unmistakably clear that Hans-Uwe must put his private affairs in order, otherwise the Norderup church council will not approve the plan. Above all, the conservative and influential big farmer Dietrich Bosefeld (Peter von Strombeck) looks with skepticism on the couple – especially since the unconventional Petra is not regarded as befitting her station. Hans-Uwe’s professional existence is at stake: If he doesn’t get the new post, he will lose his parish altogether. He needs Petra. When she is finally ready to jump over her shadow, her son Mikis (Oliver Wnuk), with whom she has a strained relationship, shows up. In tow is his father Dimitris (Albert Kitzl) – Petra’s childhood sweetheart from Greece.

“Nägel mit Köppen” tells with the same loving eye as “Butter bei die Fische” about life and love in Kappeln in the North German province. At the center of the turbulent lowland comedy is again the unequal couple with great entertainment potential: the not at a loss for words “Ruhrpottpflanze” Petra Koslowski and the rather taciturn Schleswig-Holstein village pastor Hans-Uwe Petersen.

Georg Weber wrote the screenplay. Directed by Walter Weber (“Das geheime Leben meiner Freundin”, “Ein Dorf sieht Mord”). Production: Network Movie Hamburg, Jutta Lieck-Klenke. Producer: Carsten Kelber. Daniel Blum is the editor at ZDF.